C# 12 and .NET 8. Modern Cross-Platform Development Fundamentals: Start building websites and services with ASP.NET Core 8, Blazor, and EF Core 8. 8 Ed

Cover....1

Copyright....3

Contributors....4

Table of Contents....8

Preface....14

Chapter 1: Hello, C#! Welcome, .NET!....20

Introducing this book and its contents....20

Setting up your development environment....23

Understanding .NET....31

Building console apps using Visual Studio 2022....36

Building console apps using Visual Studio Code....45

Making good use of the GitHub repository for this book....53

Looking for help....56

Practicing and exploring....69

Summary....71

Chapter 2: Speaking C#....72

Introducing the C# language....72

Discovering your C# compiler version....74

Understanding C# grammar and vocabulary....78

Working with variables....94

Exploring more about console apps....114

Understanding async and await....130

Practicing and exploring....131

Summary....133

Chapter 3: Controlling Flow, Converting Types, and Handling Exceptions....134

Operating on variables....134

Understanding selection statements....144

Understanding iteration statements....153

Storing multiple values in an array....157

Casting and converting between types....165

Handling exceptions....175

Checking for overflow....180

Practicing and exploring....183

Summary....186

Chapter 4: Writing, Debugging, and Testing Functions....188

Writing functions....188

Debugging during development....208

Hot reloading during development....218

Logging during development and runtime....220

Unit testing....233

Throwing and catching exceptions in functions....239

Practicing and exploring....248

Summary....249

Chapter 5: Building Your Own Types with Object-Oriented Programming....250

Talking about OOP....250

Building class libraries....252

Storing data in fields....261

Working with methods and tuples....277

Controlling access with properties and indexers....291

Pattern matching with objects....298

Working with record types....302

Practicing and exploring....308

Summary....310

Chapter 6: Implementing Interfaces and Inheriting Classes....312

Setting up a class library and console application....313

Static methods and overloading operators....315

Making types safely reusable with generics....323

Raising and handling events....326

Implementing interfaces....332

Managing memory with reference and value types....342

Working with null values....353

Inheriting from classes....363

Casting within inheritance hierarchies....371

Inheriting and extending .NET types....374

Summarizing custom type choices....378

Practicing and exploring....383

Summary....385

Chapter 7: Packaging and Distributing .NET Types....386

The road to .NET 8....386

Understanding .NET components....388

Publishing your code for deployment....400

Native ahead-of-time compilation....410

Decompiling .NET assemblies....415

Packaging your libraries for NuGet distribution....421

Working with preview features....430

Practicing and exploring....431

Summary....433

Chapter 8: Working with Common .NET Types....434

Working with numbers....434

Working with text....440

Pattern matching with regular expressions....447

Storing multiple objects in collections....457

Working with spans, indexes, and ranges....478

Practicing and exploring....480

Summary....481

Chapter 9: Working with Files, Streams, and Serialization....482

Managing the filesystem....482

Reading and writing with streams....493

Encoding and decoding text....507

Serializing object graphs....511

Working with environment variables....524

Practicing and exploring....529

Summary....531

Chapter 10: Working with Data Using Entity Framework Core....532

Understanding modern databases....532

Setting up EF Core in a .NET project....537

Defining EF Core models....544

Querying EF Core models....560

Loading and tracking patterns with EF Core....577

Modifying data with EF Core....586

Practicing and exploring....596

Summary....598

Chapter 11: Querying and Manipulating Data Using LINQ....600

Writing LINQ expressions....600

LINQ in practice....604

Sorting and more....610

Using LINQ with EF Core....617

Joining, grouping, and lookups....626

Aggregating and paging sequences....633

Practicing and exploring....642

Summary....644

Chapter 12: Introducing Web Development Using ASP.NET Core....646

Understanding ASP.NET Core....646

Structuring projects....651

Building an entity model for use in the rest of the book....652

Understanding web development....667

Practicing and exploring....671

Summary....672

Chapter 13: Building Websites Using ASP.NET Core Razor Pages....674

Exploring ASP.NET Core....674

Exploring ASP.NET Core Razor Pages....687

Using Entity Framework Core with ASP.NET Core....699

Configuring services and the HTTP request pipeline....705

Practicing and exploring....712

Summary....714

Chapter 14: Building and Consuming Web Services....716

Building web services using the ASP.NET Core Web API....716

Creating a web service for the Northwind database....725

Documenting and testing web services....741

Consuming web services using HTTP clients....754

Practicing and exploring....760

Summary....761

Chapter 15: Building User Interfaces Using Blazor....764

History of Blazor....764

Reviewing the Blazor Web App project template....768

Building components using Blazor....779

Enabling client-side execution using WebAssembly....795

Practicing and exploring....796

Summary....798

Epilogue....800

Next steps on your C# and .NET learning journey....800

The ninth edition, coming November 2024....802

Good luck!....803

Index....804

This latest edition of the bestselling Packt series will give you a solid foundation to start building projects using modern C# and .NET with confidence.

You'll learn about object-oriented programming; writing, testing, and debugging functions; and implementing interfaces. You'll take on .NET APIs for managing and querying data, working with the fi lesystem, and serialization. As you progress, you'll explore examples of cross-platform projects you can build and deploy, such as websites and services using ASP.NET Core.

This latest edition integrates .NET 8 enhancements into its examples: type aliasing and primary constructors for concise and expressive code. You'll handle errors robustly through the new built-in guard clauses and explore a simplified implementation of caching in ASP.NET Core 8.

If that's not enough, you'll also see how native ahead-of-time (AOT) compiler publish lets web services reduce memory use and run faster. You'll work with the seamless new HTTP editor in Visual Studio 2022 to enhance the testing and debugging process. You'll even get introduced to Blazor Full Stack with its new unified hosting model for unparalleled web development flexibility.

What you will learn

• Discover C# 12's new features, including aliasing any type and primary constructors
• Try out the native AOT publish capability for ASP.NET Core 8 Minimal APIs web services
• Build rich web experiences using Blazor Full Stack, Razor Pages, and other ASP.NET Core features
• Integrate and update databases in your apps using Entity Framework Core models
• Query and manipulate data using LINQ
• Build and consume powerful services using Web API and Minimal API

Who this book is for

This book is for beginners as well as intermediate-level C# and .NET programmers who have worked with C# in the past and want to catch up with the changes made in the last few years.

Prior exposure to C# or .NET is not a prerequisite. A general understanding of programming will help you to work through the book more comfortably, though the content is suitable for those completely new to programming.

If you already have some C# and .NET skills and want to focus on developing practical apps, you can pick up Mark’s other .NET book, Apps and Services with .NET 8, instead.