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

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.NET Framework

Supported? But of course!

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.NET Standard

Supported? No

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Portable Class Library (Legacy)

Supported? Yes

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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).