Building Applications

Your guide to creating powerful and innovative applications on the Microsoft platform.

Introduction to Application Development

Welcome to the comprehensive guide on building applications with Microsoft technologies. This section delves into the core concepts, tools, and best practices for developing robust and scalable applications that leverage the full potential of the Microsoft ecosystem.

Key Pillars of Application Development

Modern application development encompasses several critical areas:

Architecture: Designing scalable, maintainable, and resilient systems.
Languages & Frameworks: Choosing the right tools for the job, from .NET to JavaScript frameworks.
Data Management: Effectively storing, retrieving, and securing your data with databases like SQL Server and Azure SQL.
User Interface (UI) & User Experience (UX): Crafting intuitive and engaging interfaces for web, mobile, and desktop.
Deployment & Operations: Streamlining the release process and ensuring high availability with tools like Azure DevOps.
Security: Implementing best practices to protect your applications and user data.

Getting Started with .NET

The .NET platform is a versatile, open-source framework for building a wide variety of applications, including web, mobile, desktop, cloud, and IoT. Whether you're building a new project or migrating an existing one, .NET offers a powerful and productive environment.

Core .NET Concepts:

Common Language Runtime (CLR): Manages the execution of .NET code.
Base Class Library (BCL): Provides fundamental types and functionalities.
C# & F#: Modern, object-oriented programming languages.
ASP.NET Core: A high-performance, cross-platform framework for building web applications and APIs.

For a detailed walkthrough, see our .NET Getting Started Tutorial.

Web Application Development

Building modern web applications requires a solid understanding of both front-end and back-end technologies. Microsoft offers a rich set of tools and frameworks to help you succeed.

Front-End Technologies:

HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript: The foundational technologies of the web.
TypeScript: Adds static typing to JavaScript for larger applications.
React, Angular, Vue.js: Popular JavaScript frameworks for building interactive UIs.

Back-End Technologies:

ASP.NET Core: For building high-performance web APIs and applications.
Azure Functions: Serverless computing for event-driven applications.
Microservices Architecture: Designing applications as a collection of small, independent services.

Explore our Web Development Best Practices for more insights.

Mobile and Desktop Applications

Develop native or cross-platform applications for Windows, iOS, and Android using Microsoft's comprehensive suite of tools.

.NET MAUI: For building native cross-platform apps from a single codebase.
Windows App SDK (Project Reunion): Unifying Windows app development.
Universal Windows Platform (UWP): For building modern Windows applications.

Learn more about Cross-Platform Mobile Development.

Building for the Cloud with Azure

Azure provides a vast array of services to host, manage, and scale your applications. Understanding cloud-native development is crucial for modern application architects.

Key Azure Services for Developers:

Azure App Service: For hosting web apps, mobile back ends, and APIs.
Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS): For orchestrating containerized applications.
Azure Cosmos DB: A globally distributed, multi-model database service.
Azure DevOps: For continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD).

Discover the power of Azure Development Patterns.

Code Sample

Here's a simple example of a C# method using ASP.NET Core to return a JSON response:


using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using System.Collections.Generic;

[ApiController]
[Route("api/[controller]")]
public class SampleController : ControllerBase
{
    [HttpGet]
    public ActionResult<IEnumerable<string>> GetItems()
    {
        var items = new List<string>
        {
            "Item 1",
            "Item 2",
            "Item 3"
        };
        return Ok(items);
    }
}

Next Steps

Ready to start building? Dive into our detailed tutorials, explore the API reference, or connect with the developer community to share your knowledge and get support.