Bits of .NET

📦 One EXE, No Runtime, Instant Start

.NET apps need runtime installed. Native AOT compiles to single native executable. Works on machines without .NET. 10ms startup.

🔧 Enable Native AOT

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
    <PublishAot>true</PublishAot>
  </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

# Publish command
dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained
# Output: single .exe file (~10-30MB)

🎯 AOT Limitations

// ❌ Reflection (some may work, some not)
Type.GetType("SomeType")  // May return null

// ❌ Dynamic code generation
Assembly.Load(byte[])  // Not supported

// ❌ Newtonsoft.Json (uses reflection heavily)
// Use System.Text.Json with source generation instead

// ✅ Source-generated serialization
[JsonSourceGenerationOptions(WriteIndented = true)]
[JsonSerializable(typeof(MyClass))]
internal partial class MyJsonContext : JsonSerializerContext { }

var json = JsonSerializer.Serialize(obj, MyJsonContext.Default.MyClass);

✅ Perfect For

• CLI tools (git-like, small, fast)
• AWS Lambda/Azure Functions (cold start elimination)
• Microservices in containers (small images)
• Embedded/IoT devices (no runtime install)