Today I'm proud to announce that my future book - ASP.NET Core Web API, which I'm currently writing for Manning Publications - has just reached the MEAP state!
In case you are not familiar with Manning Publications, I'll briefly explain what it is: MEAP stands for Manning Early Access Program, a feature from the editor that allows you to read a book chapter-by-chapter while it's being written - without waiting for the author (yes, that's me!) to finish it. Such feature is a big asset for any reader, especially when talking about programming books - since we all understand that being able to gain immediate knowledge about a tech stack, a development framework, and/or a programming language, is a key asset in learning.
Now that we've clarified how this early access program works and how to access it, let's see what this book is about.
About the book
As the name implies, the book is entirely dedicated to ASP.NET Core: more precisely, it will teach the reader how to create a fully featured Web APIs using the ASP.NET Core framework coupled with Entity Framework Core and an underlying DBMS (SQL Server), using the REST and GraphQL standards.
The idea is to create a practical beginner's guide that will help back-end developers to create their first Web API project(s) using ASP.NET Core. The book is ideal for developers with minimal ASP.NET Core experience, but can also be very useful to experienced developers that wants to know more about the ASP.NET Core framework and its integration capabilities with Entity Framework Core, SQL Server, and the likes - as well as the new, ground-breaking Minimal API feature introduced with .NET 6.
The book is structured just like a real-world development project, with each chapter introducing a new feature request. The reader will build a Web API project using an ecosystem of built-in and third-party ASP.NET Core tools that help simplify everything - from setting up your data model to generating documentation.
Here's a list of what you will learn throughout the book:
- Set up your environment with VS 2022, Node, Git, and more
- Create a ASP.NET Core project from scratch
- Integrate with SQL Server
- Use Entity Framework Core to set up a data model
- Create back-end controllers
- Design an API to serve data
- Write API documentation using Swagger and Swashbuckle
- Consume an API using typical web client-side frameworks, including Angular and ReactJS
- Handle requests and routes using controllers and Minimal API
The book will also help you to apply several REST best practices and guidelines, as well as exploring modern API approaches using GraphQL. Each chapter contains realistic user stories, backlog items, and development tasks just like you’d encounter in a real software project. The skills you build while developing the book’s example project will transfer seamlessly into your daily work as an ASP.NET developer.
About the technology
APIs are the backbone of modern software and a vital skill for anyone serious about professional development. The free and open source ASP.NET Core framework is one of the best tools available for creating APIs, since it has been designed to maximize code execution speed and reliability. Its “no compile” development experience means you’re never stuck waiting for your code.
Furthermore, the ASP.NET Core framework comes with a rich set of built-in middlewares and services, as well as countless third-party libraries available through the NuGet package library, that can be used to easily implement all kind of features. Most of them are widely used within the book, including (yet not limiting to):
- DBMS connection (Entity Framework Core)
- CSV files read, parse and write (CSVHelper)
- Log providers (Serilog)
And a lot more!
Widely used by both small companies and big enterprises, ASP.NET Core benefits from both the support of its open source community and the backing of Microsoft and the Azure cloud.
Accessing the MEAP program
The MEAP program offers several benefits over the traditional "wait to read" model, such as:
- Get started now. You can read early versions of the chapters before the book is finished.
- Regular updates. We'll let you know when updates are available, and you can get the new content from your Manning user account.
- Get finished books faster. MEAP customers are the first to get final eBooks and pBooks.
- Contribute to the writing process. Your feedback in the liveBook Discussion Forum makes the book better.
To access the MEAP program, navigate to this page or click to the banner below:
Once there, follow the on-screen instruction to join the program and start reading the first chapters right away!
Discount code
To celebrate the event, Manning sent me a launch discount code that can be used to obtain a 50% discount for all formats (eBook and pBook)! Here's the discount code:
MLDESANCTIS
The above promo code will be valid until May, 31: be sure to claim it before the offer ends!
UPDATE: the promo code has expired, but there's a new one that offers a 35% discount on the whole Manning product catalog (including this title) with no expiring date: read here to get it!
