Part 1. Getting started with MVC

Web applications are everywhere these days, from social media web apps and news sites, to the apps on your phone. Behind the scenes, there is almost always a server running a web application or web API. Web applications are expected to be infinitely scalable, deployed to the cloud, and highly performant. Getting started can be overwhelming at the best of times and doing so with such high expectations can be even more of a challenge.

The good news for you as readers is that ASP.NET Core was designed to meet those requirements. Whether you need a simple website, a complex e-commerce web app, or a distributed web of microservices, you can use your knowledge of ASP.NET Core to build lean web apps that fit your needs. ASP.NET Core lets you build and run web apps on Windows, Linux, or macOS. It’s highly modular, so you only use the components you need, keeping your app as compact and performant as possible.

In part 1, you’ll go from a standing start all the way to building your first web applications and APIs. Chapter 1 gives a high-level overview of ASP.NET Core, which you’ll find especially useful if you’re new to web development in general. You’ll get your first glimpse of a full ASP.NET Core application in chapter 2, in which we look at each component of the app in turn and see how they work together to generate a response.