Modernizing .NET Applications

Preface: The .NET Renaissance

.NET is far from dead. Although JavaScript, Go, and Swift have gathered plenty of developer attention, .NET remains a dominant framework. The 2018 StackOverflow Developer Survey polled more than 100,000 developers. In the results, developers said C# was the eighth “most loved” language, and .NET Core was the fifth “most loved” framework. Analyst firm RedMonk looks at GitHub projects and StackOverflow discussion to create its language rankings, and C# has been the fifth most popular language for years now. Companies around the world have major existing investments in .NET, and its popularity remains high.

But it hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing. With .NET’s coupling to Windows environments, .NET apps haven’t had access to the bleeding edge of server automation or application deployment. Configuration management tools have only recently supported Windows in earnest. Public clouds are now making a legitimate effort to woo .NET developers, but that wasn’t the case even five years ago. And many of the most exciting microservices patterns have been tougher to implement with the available .NET tools.

This situation has left you with some tough choices. Should you abandon .NET and do your new development in a more open source, Linux-centric language? Should you invest the bare minimum to keep existing .NET apps online but freeze new development? A few years ago, that was a fair concern. However, with the introduction of .NET Core, the availability of new libraries, and some fresh architecture patterns, you have a viable path forward. I’m excited about it. You can confidently build new applications with .NET, while reengaging plans to upgrade the .NET apps you have. Don’t believe me? Let me prove it to you over the course of this book.

Acknowledgments

There are a few folks I’d like to thank for their support on this little endeavor. First, the O’Reilly team has been exceptional. This book is so much better because of their close involvement.

My colleagues at Pivotal are truly best in class and motivate me to do my best work. Our field-facing folks influenced my thinking with all their practical insight into what customers want to accomplish. Our engineering organization includes so many talented people who want to make Windows and .NET great for developers. And I work with the best marketing team on the planet. Special thanks to my terrific boss, Ian Andrews, for always giving me the latitude to take on these crazy projects.

Last but not least, I’m grateful for my supportive family. My wife, Trish, children Noah, Charlotte, and Elliott, and two pups inspire me more than they’ll ever know.