The Little ASP.NET Core Book (2018) – Nate Barbettini (PDF)

The code for the finished version of the application you’ll build is available on GitHub:
https://www.github.com/nbarbettini/little-aspnetcore-todo

Feel free to download it if you want to see the finished product, or compare as you write your own code.

The book itself is updated frequently with bug fixes and new content. If you’re reading a PDF, e-book, or print version, check the official website (littleasp.net/book) to see if there’s an updated version available. The very last page of the book contains version information and a changelog.

Who this book is for

If you’re new to programming, this book will introduce you to the patterns and concepts used to build modern web applications. You’ll learn how to build a web app (and how the big pieces fit together) by Introduction building something from scratch! While this little book won’t be able to cover absolutely everything you need to know about programming, it’ll give you a starting point so you can learn more advanced topics.

If you already code in a backend language like Node, Python, Ruby, Go, or Java, you’ll notice a lot of familiar ideas like MVC, view templates, and dependency injection. The code will be in C#, but it won’t look too different from what you already know.

If you’re an ASP.NET MVC developer, you’ll feel right at home! ASP.NET Core adds some new tools and reuses (and simplifies) the things you already know. I’ll point out some of the differences below.

No matter what your previous experience with web programming, this book will teach you everything you need to create a simple and useful web application in ASP.NET Core. You’ll learn how to build functionality using backend and frontend code, how to interact with a database, and how to deploy the app to the world.

What is ASP.NET Core?

ASP.NET Core is a web framework created by Microsoft for building web applications, APIs, and microservices. It uses common patterns like MVC (Model-View-Controller), dependency injection, and a request pipeline comprised of middleware. It’s open-source under the Apache 2.0 license, which means the source code is freely available, and the community is encouraged to contribute bug fixes and new features.

ASP.NET Core runs on top of Microsoft’s .NET runtime, similar to the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) or the Ruby interpreter. You can write ASP.NET Core applications in a number of languages (C#, Visual Basic, F#). C# is the most popular choice, and it’s what I’ll use in this book. You can build and run ASP.NET Core applications on Windows, Mac, and Linux.