Support netstandard2.0 (and higher)

[lukebakken]

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/net-standard

@bording approved 😄

[stebet]

Does this mean you'll drop support for anything lower than netstandard2.0? If so, I'm all for it, so the codebase can move forward.

[michaelklishin]

Yes, that's exactly what it means @stebet.

[stebet]

That's great. In that case, I have a PR well on it's way that modernizes quite a bit, will probably submit it tomorrow :)

[lukebakken]

@stebet - great! Thanks.

[bording]

To make sure my comment on the other issue is clear, I'm currently thinking this should be the new TargetFrameworks value for the project:

<TargetFrameworks>net452;netstandard2.0</TargetFrameworks>

[lukebakken]

Some useful links to include in this project:

• Windows lifecycle
• .NET Framework system requirements
• .NET Standard

[stebet]

To make sure my comment on the other issue is clear, I'm currently thinking this should be the new TargetFrameworks value for the project:

<TargetFrameworks>net452;netstandard2.0</TargetFrameworks>

Why 4.5.2? If you are aiming for a major revision, I'd highly recommend moving the minimum target up to 4.6 at least, maybe even netstandard2.0 as a minimum. System.IO.Pipelines for example has 4.6 as the minimum requirement: https://www.nuget.org/packages/System.IO.Pipelines/

For added reference, the peeps at StackExchange will probably make netstandard2.1 a minimum for major revisions starting in 2020: https://twitter.com/marcgravell/status/1214226671550775297

NetFX support is dropping fast, and target anything lower than 4.6 will limit the possibilities of getting new and improved APIs pretty rapidly as NetFX will not be receiving any new features, since .NET 5.0 is being worked on.

[lukebakken]

@stebet - we would consider requiring a more recent .NET Framework if concrete benefits to users of this library can be demonstrated (faster performance, better memory use, etc).

[stebet]

As for benefits, a lot of them are well documented. I'd almost say that enabling the use of System.IO.Pipelines and System.Threading.Channels (both have 4.6 as minimum) alone would be reason enough. Also a lot of *Async functionality isn't available except in higher versions. More knowledgeable people like @benaadams, @davidfowl and @mgravell can probably point at several as well. I think 4.6.1 is a good middle ground between maintaining backwards compat (if that's a hard requirement) and enabling new/improved constructs and functionality.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/whats-new/

[lukebakken]

OK thanks. I'm assuming that would require code changes. I am happy to run performance tests on proposed changes that are 4.6.1+ specific if you'd like to include them in your current PR or a new one. Thanks.