Asp.Net Core Introduction

ASP.NET Core is a cross-platform, high-performance framework for building modern web applications, services using the C# programming language, open-source framework developed by Microsoft as part of the .NET Core ecosystem. Asp.Net Core provides Unified Programming Model, in which we can develop both Asp.net core MVC and Web APIs applications and services where both refers to the controllers which inherits from the same base class (IActionResult). ASP.NET Core is the next generation of ASP.NET, offering a wide range of improvements and new features over its predecessor.

Key features and characteristics of ASP.NET Core include:

  • Cross-Platform Compatibility: ASP.NET Core runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS, allowing developers to build and deploy web applications on their platform of choice.

  • Modular Architecture: ASP.NET Core is designed with a modular architecture, enabling developers to include only the libraries and components that their application needs, resulting in smaller and more efficient applications.

  • High Performance: ASP.NET Core is optimized for performance, providing faster response times, lower memory consumption, and better scalability compared to previous versions of ASP.NET.

  • Razor Pages and MVC: ASP.NET Core supports both Razor Pages and Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural patterns for building web applications. Razor Pages provide a simpler way to create page-focused web applications, while MVC offers more flexibility and control over the application's structure.

  • Built-in Dependency Injection: ASP.NET Core includes a built-in dependency injection container, making it easy to manage and inject dependencies into your application's components, promoting loose coupling and better testability.

  • Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) Support: ASP.NET Core provides built-in support for Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS), allowing developers to configure cross-origin requests between different domains.

  • Middleware Pipeline: ASP.NET Core uses a middleware pipeline to process HTTP requests and responses, allowing developers to add, remove, or reorder middleware components to customize the request-handling pipeline.

  • WebSockets and SignalR: ASP.NET Core includes support for WebSockets, enabling real-time communication between the client and server. Additionally, it provides SignalR, a library for building real-time web applications using WebSockets, Server-Sent Events (SSE), or other techniques.

  • Authentication and Authorization: ASP.NET Core includes built-in support for authentication and authorization, allowing developers to easily integrate authentication mechanisms such as JWT (JSON Web Tokens), OAuth, and OpenID Connect into their applications.

  • Integration with Client-Side Frameworks: ASP.NET Core can be integrated with popular client-side frameworks and libraries such as Angular, React, Vue.js, and Blazor, enabling developers to build modern single-page applications (SPAs) with ease.

Asp.Net Core has build-in support for Dependency Injection, we will discuss it in detail in later chapters.
Overall, .NET Core provides a modern and flexible platform for building high-performance web applications, services and cloud-based web apps on Windows, macOS, or Linux. With its extensive feature set, cross-platform compatibility, and open-source nature, it has become increasingly popular among developers for building modern web applications.