ASP.NET Core Mastery
A comprehensive, ground-up guide to mastering ASP.NET Core development. From absolute beginner to production-ready full-stack engineer.
Welcome to Your Journey
This guide is designed for motivated learners who want to truly understand ASP.NET Core, not just copy-paste code patterns. Whether you're completely new to programming or an experienced developer looking to fill knowledge gaps, this resource will take you from first principles to building production-grade applications.
We'll build a real-world project together: InvenTrack, a mini-ERP system for inventory and sales management. By the end, you'll have created something meaningful while internalizing the concepts that make great .NET developers.
Depth over breadth. We explain the "why" behind every concept. Progressive complexity. Each topic builds on what came before. Real-world focus. Everything connects to practical, professional development.
What You'll Build: InvenTrack Mini-ERP
Throughout this guide, we'll progressively build a complete inventory and sales management system:
| Phase | Module | What You'll Learn |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Product Catalog | Basic CRUD operations, Entity Framework Core, validation |
| 2 | Inventory Management | Transactions, concurrency, business logic in services |
| 3 | Customer Management | Relationships, complex queries, DTOs |
| 4 | Sales Orders | Complex workflows, state management, validation rules |
| 5 | Authentication & Users | ASP.NET Core Identity, JWT, role-based access |
| 6 | Reporting Dashboard | Aggregations, caching, Razor Pages UI |
| 7 | Multi-Warehouse | Multi-tenancy patterns, complex domain logic |
| 8 | Audit Trail | EF Core interceptors, compliance, logging |
Prerequisites
None. We start from "What is programming?" and build up from there. You'll need a computer and the willingness to learn—that's it. We'll install everything together as we go.
Tools We'll Use
- Visual Studio 2022 — Our primary IDE (Community Edition is free)
- .NET 8 — The latest Long-Term Support version
- SQL Server — Our database (Express/LocalDB editions are free)
- Git — For version control
Complete Roadmap
Click any section to begin. Sections are designed to be read in order, but you can jump around if you're already familiar with certain topics.
Foundations
The absolute basics—what programming is, how C# works, and the .NET ecosystem.
- What is Programming?
- What is C# and .NET?
- Variables and Data Types
- Operators and Expressions
- Control Flow (if, loops)
- Methods and Functions
- Object-Oriented Programming
- Collections and Generics
- LINQ
- Asynchronous Programming
.NET Core Basics
Understanding the runtime, SDK, CLI tools, and project structure.
- The .NET Ecosystem
- Installing the .NET SDK
- Your First Console Application
- Project Files and Structure
- The dotnet CLI
- NuGet Package Management
ASP.NET Core Basics
The web framework—hosting, configuration, and the request pipeline.
- What is ASP.NET Core?
- Your First Web Application
- Program.cs Deep Dive
- Configuration & appsettings.json
- The Options Pattern
- Environments
Dependency Injection
The heart of ASP.NET Core—how services are managed and connected.
- What is Dependency Injection?
- The Built-in DI Container
- Service Lifetimes
- Registering Services
- Constructor Injection
- Common DI Patterns
Middleware & Pipeline
How HTTP requests flow through your application.
- The Request Pipeline
- Built-in Middleware
- Creating Custom Middleware
- Middleware Ordering
- Exception Handling Middleware
HTTP & Web Fundamentals
Understanding the protocol that powers the web.
- HTTP Protocol Basics
- Request/Response Cycle
- HTTP Methods (GET, POST, etc.)
- Status Codes
- Headers and Content Types
- Cookies and Sessions
Routing
How URLs map to your code.
- Endpoint Routing Basics
- Conventional vs Attribute Routing
- Route Parameters
- Route Constraints
- URL Generation
- Areas
Building Web APIs
Creating RESTful APIs with controllers and minimal APIs.
- RESTful Principles
- API Controllers
- Model Binding
- Validation
- Minimal APIs
- DTOs and AutoMapper
- API Versioning
Entity Framework Core
Database access with Microsoft's ORM.
- What is an ORM?
- DbContext and Entities
- Code-First Migrations
- Querying Data with LINQ
- Relationships
- Loading Strategies
- Advanced EF Core
MVC & Views
Server-rendered web applications with the MVC pattern.
- MVC Architecture
- Controllers for Views
- Razor Syntax
- Layouts and Partials
- View Components
- Tag Helpers
Razor Pages
Page-focused development for simpler UI scenarios.
- What are Razor Pages?
- Page Model Pattern
- Handlers (OnGet, OnPost)
- Forms and Validation
- Razor Pages vs MVC
Authentication
Who is the user? Identity, cookies, and JWT.
- Authentication Fundamentals
- ASP.NET Core Identity
- Cookie Authentication
- JWT Bearer Authentication
- OAuth 2.0 & OpenID Connect
- External Login Providers
Authorization
What can the user do? Roles, claims, and policies.
- Authorization Fundamentals
- Role-Based Authorization
- Claims-Based Authorization
- Policy-Based Authorization
- Resource-Based Authorization
- Custom Authorization Handlers
Security Best Practices
Protecting your application from common vulnerabilities.
- OWASP Top 10
- Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
- Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
- SQL Injection
- Data Protection API
- HTTPS and Security Headers
Logging
Observing what your application is doing.
- ILogger Interface
- Log Levels
- Built-in Providers
- Structured Logging
- Serilog Integration
- Logging Best Practices
Testing
Ensuring your code works correctly.
- Unit Testing with xUnit
- Mocking with Moq
- Integration Testing
- WebApplicationFactory
- Test-Driven Development
Performance & Caching
Making your application fast and scalable.
- In-Memory Caching
- Distributed Caching
- Response Caching
- Async Best Practices
- EF Core Performance
- Profiling Tools
Deployment & Hosting
Getting your application into production.
- Kestrel and Reverse Proxies
- IIS Hosting
- Linux Hosting
- Docker Containers
- Azure App Service
- CI/CD Pipelines
Milestone Projects
After completing groups of related sections, you'll apply what you've learned by building increasingly sophisticated parts of InvenTrack:
| Milestone | After Parts | What You'll Build |
|---|---|---|
| 🏗️ Milestone 1 | I-II | Console app with classes, collections, and file I/O |
| 🏗️ Milestone 2 | III-V | Basic ASP.NET Core web app with DI and middleware |
| 🏗️ Milestone 3 | VI-VIII | InvenTrack Product Catalog API (full CRUD) |
| 🏗️ Milestone 4 | IX | InvenTrack with SQL Server via Entity Framework Core |
| 🏗️ Milestone 5 | X-XI | InvenTrack Admin Dashboard (Razor Pages UI) |
| 🏗️ Milestone 6 | XII-XIV | InvenTrack with authentication and authorization |
| 🏗️ Milestone 7 | XV-XVII | InvenTrack with logging, testing, and caching |
| 🏗️ Final Project | XVIII-XX | Deploy InvenTrack to production with CI/CD |
Ready to Begin?
Start with Part I: Foundations where we'll answer the most fundamental question: What is programming?
This index serves as your roadmap. Come back here whenever you want to see the big picture or jump to a different topic.