Designing Modern Web Applications with ASP.NET Core and Azure

Introduction

The book «Architecting Modern Web Applications with ASP.NET Core and Azure» by Steve Smith is a practical guide for developers striving to create scalable, maintainable, and secure web applications on the .NET platform. Published in 2021, the 212-page book covers key aspects of modern architecture: from SOLID principles and Domain-Driven Design to integration with Microsoft Azure cloud services. Despite the fact that the PythonLib site is dedicated to Python, this book will be useful to anyone interested in backend architecture and cloud solutions — many concepts are universal and applicable in any stack.

What the book is about

The book is not a tutorial on C# syntax or the basics of ASP.NET Core. Instead, it focuses on architectural patterns and best practices that allow you to create applications ready for change and growth. The author consistently guides the reader through the design process: from choosing an architectural style (monolith, microservices, modular monolith) to implementing specific application layers (Presentation, Application, Domain, Infrastructure). Special attention is paid to Clean Architecture and its adaptation to ASP.NET Core. The book also covers testing, security, configuration management, and deployment in Azure.

Who this book is for

The book is intended for experienced .NET developers who already have basic knowledge of ASP.NET Core and want to move to the next level — learning to design complex systems. It will be useful for:

• C# backend developers seeking to master Clean Architecture and DDD;
• Software architects looking for practical examples of applying SOLID principles;
• Team leads and technical managers wanting to standardize development approaches within the team;
• Developers planning to migrate existing applications to the Azure cloud.

What the reader will learn

After reading the book, the reader will be able to:

• Design applications following the principles of Clean Architecture and Domain-Driven Design;
• Separate code into layers with clear dependencies and isolate business logic from infrastructure;
• Use Entity Framework Core for data access in an architecturally correct style (repositories, Unit of Work);
• Implement authentication and authorization using ASP.NET Core Identity and Azure AD;
• Set up CI/CD pipelines and deploy applications to Azure App Service and Azure Kubernetes Service;
• Apply CQRS and MediatR patterns to separate commands and queries;
• Write unit and integration tests for each application layer.

Strengths

The main advantage of the book is its practical orientation. Each chapter contains not only theory but also ready-made code examples that can be immediately applied in a real project. The author uses a real case — an order management application (eShopOnWeb), which evolves from a simple monolith to a modular architecture. This allows the reader to see how decisions are made dynamically. Another plus is the emphasis on testability and dependency inversion, which is critically important for long-term code maintainability. The book is written in a lively language, without excessive academicism, and is equipped with numerous diagrams and schematics.

Who it is recommended for

We recommend this book to everyone who wants to stop writing "spaghetti code" and start building reliable, scalable systems. Even if you don't work with Azure, the architectural principles described in the book are applicable to any cloud provider or lo