Architecting ASP.NET Core Applications: An atypical design patterns guide for .NET 8, C# 12, and beyond

by Carl-Hugo Marcotte

Genres: Programming

806 pages, Paperback

Published March 22, 2024

Reviews

[Gerard Altamirano · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you already have built a few projects from the ground up or you’ve contributed to build one, and you’re a mid-senior seeking to deepen their understanding of architectural design patterns with .NET, this is your book.

Personally, I’ve been looking for a book like this when I started playing around the .NET community. An architecture book .NET tailored. Since I believe that the experience that more seniors devs can share is invaluable in your learning journey (more if you’re using a new stack).

The precision and thoroughness of their explanations demonstrate the writers' extensive experience with .NET. Complex concepts are simplified and supported with practical examples in order for you to grasp the material and effectively implement it in your own projects; it’s also worth noting the author includes, when needed, more resources to go even further in a topic. Furthermore, including code examples and architectural illustrations improves understanding of the described patterns, allowing you to visualize their application in a concrete scenario (an important thing in my opinion).

Summary:

- The author first ensures you’ve got the necessary to step in the topic he’s trying to explain.
- You can get a bit overwhelmed at the first few chapters; that’s ok, you’ll learning new stuff.
- I recommend actually reading the introduction chapter as most of the times it teaches you something new (no matter if it’s only 1 thing).

- You may want to skip a few pages or even latter chapters, as the author makes sure that the reader has what they need to be able to follow the chapter
- Some explanations may require you to use other resources in order to fully understand it.
- This book even covers Clean Architecture; something I noticed is very popular between .NET devs.

[Ivan Samuelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just learned ASP.NET Core programming? Are you a seasoned veteran in architecting and developing ASP.NET Core applications? Then this is a book that is packed with a lot of information that should be on the shelf of any programmer that wants to expand their knowledge of how to properly architect and create an ASP.NET application.

It's not for pure beginners wanting to learn ASP.NET Programming from the start, but serves as a reference guide to standard practices that you can add to your toolbox of skills to ensure you create a robust, secure and stable application that is scalable and easy to support.

Carl will introduce you to design patterns, explain how the web request/response works, as well as go over the differences between all the different .NET versions. After that first chapter, it's on to testing practices, architectural principles, REST APIs, Minimal APIs, Model-View-Controller pattern, other design patterns such as Abstract Factory and Singleton, Dependency Injection, application configuration, logging patterns, structural patterns, behavioral patterns, as well as microservices architecture, REPR and minimal APIs, Vertical Slice Architecture, Microservices, and Modular Monolith architectures.

The writing is clear, concise and easy to understand. He provides excellent examples, along with the source code being available for you to examine, test and tinker with. I have found that actually going in and playing with the code, debugging it, and examining how it works helps me to better retain things, rather than just reading.

Overall, this is a heft tome at over 800 pages, but it's all excellent information that is at the developer's fingertips when needed. Definitely a book to have on your shelf.

[Jorge Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am enjoying a lot this book; I would say that it should be required reading for any backend .NET developer at intermediate and advanced levels.

I found lots of very good material to learn, re-learn, unlearn, covering (in addition to the traditional GoF design patterns) the newest .NET 8 C#/ASP.NET API specific implementations of minimal APIs, microservices, vertical slicing, automated testing, etc.

There are many other very good Architecture and Design Patterns books out there in general (ie: 'Clean Architecture') or specifically for the .NET platform (ie: 'Adaptive Code', 'Code that Fits in your Head') and others, but this book rounds up many essential and the latest concepts and presents them in a very comprehensive and appealing manner.

The book focuses on the API/backend. It doesn't cover frontend .NET technologies like Blazor or MAUI; but perhaps it doesn't need to, there are many other books for those topics; it would have been nice, though, to maybe had covered couple of them (MVU, MVVM, etc.).

I find the book a very interesting refresher, I'm still going through it and for me it's filling lots of gaps, gray areas and covering new ideas and design approaches.

[Jorge Pedraza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hi, Based on Early Review Copy.
It is a support and reference book for people with prior knowledge and experience in the related area.

Topics of great interest:
Design patterns
Clean architecture
Vertical slice architecture.

Less relevant topics:
2 automated tests
6 Model-View-Controller.

Topic that should be included in the book:
Domain Driven Design (DDD).

Some incorrect links:
Page 293, Chapter 08, The complete source code is on GitHub: https://adpg.link/ywy8
Page 512, Chapter 14, The project is available on GitHub (https://adpg.link/s9HX)
So on.

When cloning the repository with Visual Studio 2022, initially I do not see correlation of some chapters, examples: C03.sln, C07.sln from the Solution explorer - Views.


From my point of view it is an excellent source of bibliographic information.
It would be interesting to include a step-by-step guide to reproduce each source code exposed in the book's github repository (PDF or additional video)

Likewise, I want to acquire a paperback edition, to collect or offer to my colleagues.

Thank you.
Best Regards
Jorge

[Martino Bordin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers insights and practical knowledge to enhance your skills in creating robust applications with ASP.NET Core.
Covering RESTful principles, API versioning, automated testing, Configuration, and logging, it transitions into the specifics of ASP.NET Core, covering Minimal API, MVC framework, and classic GoF design patterns.
It then finishes with exploring architecture approaches like Clean Architecture, CQRS, Microservices, and Modular Monolith.

While these advanced topics demand deeper exploration, the book provides a solid foundation, setting the stage for further study and mastery.

[Luis Enrique · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been reading a preview copy of this book, so far I've enjoyed every chapter I've read, this book is great if you are an intermediate/advanced .NET Developer.

Chapters of interest
- Architectural principles
- Mimimal API
- Clean Architecture and CQRS

* Minor issues like typos and broken links.

[Diogo Muller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good, complete book on the subject, that goes into detail with many good examples and some real applications.