.NET Core is an open source framework (hosted on GitHub https://github.com/dotnet/core), released by Microsoft and maintained by the .NET community, to build cross-platform applications for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. You can get it from Microsoft's official .NET Core site at https://www.microsoft.com/net/core or GitHub. If you are using Visual Studio 2017, you can get it as part of the installer.

In this chapter, we will discuss the following core topics:

• Overview of .NET Core
• Installing .NET Core with Visual Studio 2017
• A quick lap around the .NET Core commands:
  • Creating a .NET Core console app
  • Creating a .NET Core class library
  • Creating a solution file and adding projects to it
  • Resolving dependencies in a .NET Core application
  • Building a .NET Core project or solution
  • Running a .NET Core application
  • Publishing a .NET Core application
  • Creating an ASP.NET Core application
  • Creating a unit testing project
• Creating .NET Core applications using Visual Studio
• Publishing a .NET Core application using Visual Studio 2017:
  • Framework-Dependent Deployments
  • Self-Contained Deployments
• Creating, building, and publishing a .NET Core web app to Microsoft Azure