HttpClient - .net 4或.net 4.5

Question

I'm on the Nuget HttpClient page and the information there is seemingly contradictory. The very first paragraph is:

This package provides a programming interface for modern HTTP applications on .NET Framework 4, Silverlight 4 and 5, Windows Phone 7.5 and 8. This package includes HttpClient for sending requests over HTTP, as well as HttpRequestMessage and HttpResponseMessage for processing HTTP messages.

But then, the third paragraph says,

This package is not supported in Visual Studio 2010, and is only required for projects targeting .NET Framework 4.5 or .NET for Windows Store apps when consuming a library that uses this package. For known issues, please see: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=279987 .

So, it's for "modern apps on [.Net 4] but targets [.Net 4.5]?

What gives?

Answer 1

It's for apps that target .NET 4, because .NET 4.5 has these features built-in , so apps targeting 4.5 can just use the version that .NET ships with.

If targeting .NET 4.5, you need the package only when consuming a library that uses this package (obvious: if one of your dependencies depends on HttpClient, then you also depend on HttpClient).