Tools and Skills for .NET 10: Get the career you want with good practices and patterns to design, debug, and test your solutions. 2 Ed

Cover....1

Title Page....2

Copyright Page....3

Contributors....4

Table of Contents....8

Preface....14

Free Benefits with Your Book....20

Chapter 1: Introducing Tools and Skills for .NET....22

Introducing this book and its contents....23

Setting up your development environment....27

Setting up a database and projects for this book....36

Making good use of the GitHub repository for this book....73

Where to go for help....74

Using future versions of .NET with this book....80

Practicing and exploring....82

Summary....83

Chapter 2: Making the Most of the Tools in Your Code Editor....86

Introducing common tools and features....87

Tools in Visual Studio....90

Tools in VS Code....114

Decompiling .NET assemblies....118

Custom project and item templates....132

Practicing and exploring....139

Summary....141

Chapter 3: Source Code Management Using Git....144

Introducing source code management....145

Introducing Git....147

Working with Git....154

Reviewing Git repositories....170

Managing remote repositories....177

Branching and merging....180

Practicing and exploring....187

Summary....189

Chapter 4: Debugging and Memory Troubleshooting....190

Debugging strategies....190

Interactive debugging with Visual Studio....194

Understanding stack and heap memory....207

Tools and skills for memory troubleshooting....218

Practicing and exploring....223

Summary....224

Chapter 5: Logging, Tracing, and Metrics for Observability....226

Logging and tracing in .NET....227

Building a web service for logging....232

Monitoring with metrics in .NET....237

Introducing OpenTelemetry....245

Practicing and exploring....254

Summary....255

Chapter 6: Documenting Your Code, APIs, and Services....256

Introducing documentation....256

Documenting your source code....259

Documenting public APIs in class libraries....261

Documenting services....282

Documenting visually with Mermaid diagrams....288

Practicing and exploring....295

Summary....298

Chapter 7: Observing and Modifying Code Execution Dynamically....300

Working with reflection and attributes....301

Working with expression trees....318

Creating source generators....322

Practicing and exploring....327

Summary....328

Chapter 8: Protecting Data and Apps Using Cryptography....330

Understanding the vocabulary of protection....331

Encrypting and decrypting data....334

Hashing data....342

Signing data....347

Generating random numbers for cryptography....350

Authenticating and authorizing users....352

Practicing and exploring....360

Summary....361

Chapter 9: Multitasking and Concurrency....364

Understanding processes, threads, and tasks....364

Running tasks asynchronously....368

Synchronizing access to shared resources....384

Understanding async and await....393

Practicing and exploring....402

Summary....403

Chapter 10: Dependency Injection, Containers, and Service Lifetime....406

Introducing dependency injection....406

Implementing .NET Generic Host....415

Special cases of DI with ASP.NET Core....427

Practicing and exploring....431

Summary....432

Chapter 11: Unit Testing and Mocking....434

Introducing all types of testing....435

Pros and cons of test-driven development....440

Unit testing using xUnit....442

Mocking in tests....463

Making fluent assertions in unit testing....468

Generating fake data with Bogus....472

Practicing and exploring....478

Summary....480

Chapter 12: Integration and Security Testing....482

Basics of integration testing....483

Integration testing with data stores....487

Testing services using dev tunnels....491

Introducing security testing....498

Practicing and exploring....505

Summary....506

Chapter 13: Benchmarking Performance, Load, and Stress Testing....508

Benchmarking performance....509

Using BenchmarkDotNet for benchmarking performance....513

Load and stress testing....524

Bombardier – a fast cross-platform HTTP benchmarking tool....527

NBomber – a load testing framework....537

Practicing and exploring....542

Summary....544

Chapter 14: Functional and End-to-End Testing of Websites and Services....546

Understanding functional and end-to-end testing....546

Testing web user interfaces using Playwright....548

Interacting with a web user interface....561

Generating tests with the Playwright Inspector....566

Testing web services using xUnit....570

Practicing and exploring....574

Summary....575

Chapter 15: Containerization Using Docker....576

Introducing containerization....576

Understanding Docker concepts....582

Managing containers with Docker....591

Working with Testcontainers....609

Practicing and exploring....611

Summary....612

Chapter 16: Cloud-Native Development Using Aspire....614

Introducing Aspire....615

Exploring the Aspire starter template....624

Diving deeper into Aspire....630

Aspire for new and existing solutions....643

Practicing and exploring....660

Summary....662

Chapter 17: Design Patterns and Principles....664

SOLID principles....665

Design patterns....681

Design principles....692

Algorithms and data structures....700

Practicing and exploring....703

Summary....704

Chapter 18: Software and Solution Architecture Foundations....706

Introducing software and solution architecture....707

Uncle Bobs Clean Architecture....717

Diagramming design using Mermaid....721

Practicing and exploring....731

Summary....733

Chapter 19: Your Career, Teamwork, and Interviews....734

Working on a development team....734

Applying for a job....744

Sample interview questions....764

Practicing and exploring....777

Summary....778

Epilogue....780

Next steps on your .NET learning journey....780

Companion books to continue your learning journey....780

Other Packt .NET books to take your learning further....781

Good luck!....782

Appendix A: Answers to the Test Your Knowledge Questions....784

Chapter 1 – Introducing Tools and Skills with .NET....784

Chapter 2 – Making the Most of the Tools in Your Code Editor....786

Chapter 3 – Source Code Management Using Git....788

Chapter 4 – Debugging and Memory Troubleshooting....791

Chapter 5 – Logging, Tracing, and Metrics for Observability....792

Chapter 6 – Documenting Code, APIs, and Services....794

Chapter 7 – Observing and Modifying Code Execution Dynamically....795

Chapter 8 – Protecting Data Using Cryptography....797

Chapter 9 – Multitasking and Concurrency....798

Chapter 10 – Dependency Injection, Containers, and Service Lifetime....799

Chapter 11 – Unit Testing and Mocking....800

Chapter 12 – Integration and Security Testing....802

Chapter 13 – Benchmarking Performance, Load, and Stress Testing....803

Chapter 14 – Functional and End-to-End Testing of Websites and Services....805

Chapter 15 – Containerization Using Docker....806

Chapter 16 – Cloud-Native Development Using Aspire....808

Chapter 17 – Design Patterns and Principles....809

Chapter 18 – Software and Solution Architecture Foundations....810

Chapter 19 – Your Career, Teamwork, and Interviews....812

Appendix B: Setting Up Your Development Environment....816

Installing Visual Studio, VS Code, or Rider....816

Installing Docker and an SQL Server container image....824

Installing and setting up SQL Server locally....838

Setting up Azure SQL Database....842

Rider tool window for working with SQL Server....846

Appendix C: Looking For Help....848

Unlock Your Exclusive Benefits....868

Index....870

Advance your career by mastering key .NET tools and skills, including debugging, source code management, testing, cloud native development, multitasking, and more

Key Features

• Coverage of key .NET tools and skills, including refactoring, source code management, debugging, and more
• Practical guidance on using code editors effectively and implementing good practices
• Explore cutting-edge techniques like cloud native development with Aspire and containerization
• Free with your book: DRM-free PDF version + access to Packt's next-gen reader

Book Description

.NET is more powerful—and more complex—than ever. As the ecosystem evolves, so do the expectations from developers. Mastering the tools and patterns of professional .NET development can be the difference between simply shipping code and delivering resilient, scalable software. Tools and Skills for .NET 10 is a practical guide to leveling up in today’s .NET world, offering both hard technical skills and career strategies to help you thrive.

Inside, you’ll learn how to manage codebases with Git and implement debugging and memory analysis techniques that save hours of guesswork. The book also covers best practices for writing and maintaining documentation for your code, services, and APIs, which is crucial for team collaboration. You’ll explore cryptography for securing data and concurrency for building responsive apps. Further chapters explore dependency injection, testing for performance and reliability, and packaging your apps in Docker containers.

By the end of this book, you’ll be equipped not only with technical skills but also with the confidence to apply them in real environments. Whether you're aiming for a promotion, switching jobs, or preparing for technical interviews, you'll have the skills and the language to present yourself as a capable, well-rounded .NET developer ready for anything the industry throws at you.

What you will learn

• Make the most of code editor tools for efficient development
• Explore advanced debugging techniques and troubleshooting strategies
• Understand how to protect data and applications using cryptography
• Build responsive, high-performance projects using multitasking and concurrency
• Discover how to master dependency injection
• Optimize performance through benchmarking and testing
• Delve into cloud-native development using Aspire
• Advance your career with advice on job readiness and interviews

Who this book is for

This book is for .NET professionals seeking to enhance their expertise, as well as aspiring developers aiming to advance their careers in the field. This book caters to individuals eager to master essential .NET tools, refine their development practices, explore advanced techniques and cutting-edge tools, and prepare themselves for job opportunities and interviews in the competitive landscape of .NET development.