2 Getting started
This chapter covers
- Installing the code editor and SDK required for ASP.NET Core development
- Creating a simple ASP.NET Core project
- Responding to HTTP requests using a combination of code and markup
The best way to appreciate a software development framework is to jump right in and use it. In this chapter, I explain how to prepare for ASP.NET Core development and how to create and run an ASP.NET Core application.
2.1 Choosing a code editor
Microsoft provides a choice of tools for ASP.NET Core development: Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code. Visual Studio is the traditional development environment for .NET applications, and it offers an enormous range of tools and features for developing all sorts of applications. But it can be resource-hungry and slow, and some of the features are so determined to be helpful they get in the way of development.
Visual Studio Code is a lightweight alternative that doesn’t have the bells and whistles of Visual Studio but is perfectly capable of handling ASP.NET Core development.
All the examples in this book include instructions for both editors, and both Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code can be used without charge, so you can use whichever suits your development style.
If you are new to .NET development, then start with Visual Studio. It provides more structured support for creating the different types of files used in ASP.NET Core development, which will help ensure you get the expected results from the code examples.