ASP.NET Core Documentation

Overview of ASP.NET Core

ASP.NET Core is a free, open-source, cross-platform framework for building modern, cloud-based, internet-connected applications. These applications include web apps, IoT apps, and mobile backends.

ASP.NET Core offers the following benefits:

• Unified Programming Model: A single programming model for building web UIs and HTTP APIs.
• Cross-Platform: Runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
• Open Source: Community-driven development and contributions.
• Cloud-Ready: Designed for microservices, containerization (Docker), and cloud deployment.
• High Performance: Optimized for speed and efficiency.
• Modern Development: Supports dependency injection, async programming, and robust testing.

Key Components and Concepts

ASP.NET Core is built around several key components and concepts:

• Kestrel Web Server: A cross-platform web server built by the ASP.NET Core team. It can be hosted behind a reverse proxy like IIS, Nginx, or Apache.
• Middleware: A pipeline of components that handle HTTP requests and responses. Each middleware can perform specific tasks, such as routing, authentication, or logging.
• Dependency Injection: A design pattern that allows components to receive their dependencies from an external source, promoting loose coupling and testability. ASP.NET Core has built-in support for DI.
• Routing: The process of matching incoming HTTP requests to a specific handler (e.g., an MVC controller action or a Razor Page).
• Configuration: A flexible system for managing application settings from various sources like JSON files, environment variables, and command-line arguments.
• Model-View-Controller (MVC): A design pattern for building scalable and maintainable applications. ASP.NET Core MVC provides a rich set of features for creating web applications.
• Razor Pages: A page-focused model for building web UIs with ASP.NET Core. It simplifies Razor syntax and event handling for individual pages.
• Web API: A framework for building HTTP services that can be consumed by a wide range of clients.
• Blazor: A framework for building interactive client-side web UIs with .NET, allowing you to use C# instead of JavaScript for client-side logic.

Getting Started

To start building ASP.NET Core applications, you'll typically need:

• The .NET SDK installed on your machine.
• A code editor, such as Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, or JetBrains Rider.

You can create a new ASP.NET Core project using the .NET CLI:

dotnet new webapp -o MyAspNetCoreApp
cd MyAspNetCoreApp
dotnet run

Further Reading

• ASP.NET Core Fundamentals
• ASP.NET Core Routing
• ASP.NET Core Middleware
• Building Web APIs with ASP.NET Core
• Introduction to Blazor