I remember a time when there was just .NET. .NET Framework 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.5, 4.0 etc. but all .NET.

Then came Silverlight, Windows Phone Silverlight, Windows Universal-ish, Universal Windows Platform, Xamarin.xyz, .NET Core, .NET Standard. Now my head hurts. Seriously.

I just want to build a WebAPI client that I can use in a Xamarin app. Apparently Xamarin supports .NET Standard now instead of PCLs ([the infamously terrible] Portable Class Libraries). However, .NET Standard is not supported by the Visual Studio ‘Add REST API Client’.

.NET Core

Supported? NO

.NET Framework

Supported? But of course!

.NET Standard

Supported? No

Portable Class Library (Legacy)

Supported? Yes

Well there you have it. I can use .NET Framework (but not usable in Xamarin) or PCL (supported in Xamarin but now frowned upon due to the .NET Standard integration).