ASP.NET 1.0 (2002)
- Web Forms: A drag-and-drop server-side web application model (event-driven).
- Code-Behind: Separation of logic (C# or VB.NET) from HTML markup.
- Server Controls: Predefined server-side controls like
TextBox
,Button
,GridView
. - ViewState: Mechanism to retain state between postbacks.
- Session and Application State: Tools for storing user-specific or application-wide data.
- Authentication/Authorization: Forms and Windows authentication.
- ADO.NET: Database access via SQL Server or other databases.
- Web Services: Support for building XML web services (SOAP-based).
ASP.NET 1.1 (2003)
- Mobile Controls: Introduced support for mobile web devices.
- Improvements in Web Services: Enhanced security and reliability in XML web services.
- Data Access Enhancements: Improvements in ADO.NET, including native ODBC and Oracle support.
ASP.NET 2.0 (2005)
- Master Pages: Consistent site layouts across pages.
- Themes and Skins: Customizable look and feel for controls and pages.
- Navigation Controls:
SiteMapPath
,Menu
, andTreeView
controls for improved navigation. - Data Controls:
GridView
,DetailsView
, andFormView
controls for data presentation. - Membership and Role Management: Pre-built functionality for user authentication and role-based authorization.
- Personalization (Profile Properties): Storing and retrieving user-specific data.
- Provider Model: Extensible models for membership, roles, and personalization providers.
- Compilation Improvements: Dynamic compilation and deployment.
- Partial Classes: Separation of auto-generated code from user code.
ASP.NET 3.0/3.5 (2006/2007)
- AJAX Support: Built-in support for ASP.NET AJAX, including
UpdatePanel
andScriptManager
. - LINQ (Language-Integrated Query): Integration of LINQ for querying collections and databases.
- ListView and DataPager: More flexible data-binding controls.
- Entity Framework: An ORM (Object-Relational Mapper) for working with databases in an object-oriented manner.
- Silverlight Integration: Improved support for RIA (Rich Internet Applications) using Silverlight.
ASP.NET 4.0/4.5 (2010/2012)
- Web Pages: A lightweight, code-focused web development framework using Razor syntax.
- Routing: Improved support for clean, SEO-friendly URLs.
- Web API: Framework for building RESTful HTTP services.
- SignalR: Real-time web functionality for bi-directional communication between server and clients.
- Model Binding: More flexible data-binding techniques using model binders.
- Bundling and Minification: Tools for optimizing scripts and styles for faster loading.
- HTML5 Support: Improved support for HTML5 and CSS3 standards.
- Async and Await: Support for asynchronous programming in web forms and web services.
- OAuth/OpenID Authentication: Integrated support for external authentication providers.
- Enhanced Web Forms Controls: New and improved controls, like
AsyncFileUpload
and better data-binding features.
ASP.NET Core 1.0 (2016)
- Cross-Platform: Ability to run on Windows, macOS, and Linux (via .NET Core runtime).
- Unified MVC and Web API: Combined frameworks for building both web applications and APIs.
- Middleware Pipeline: Lightweight and modular HTTP request pipeline.
- Dependency Injection: Built-in support for dependency injection.
- Tag Helpers: Cleaner HTML code via server-side rendering of dynamic elements.
- Razor Pages: Simplified page-based programming model.
- Environment-Based Configuration: Environment-specific settings and configurations.
- In-Memory Caching and Distributed Caching: Built-in support for caching mechanisms.
ASP.NET Core 2.0 (2017)
- Razor Pages Enhancements: Further improvements for page-focused scenarios.
- SignalR Core: Cross-platform, real-time functionality.
- Simplified Hosting Model: Easier to set up and configure web applications.
- gRPC Support: High-performance, cross-platform RPC framework.
- Global Exception Handling: Centralized handling for application-wide errors.
- Identity and GDPR Compliance: Enhanced ASP.NET Core Identity for improved authentication, supporting GDPR compliance.
ASP.NET Core 3.0/3.1 (2019)
- Blazor (Server-Side and WebAssembly): New framework for building interactive web UIs using C# instead of JavaScript.
- Endpoint Routing: Unified model for routing, making it easier to customize the request pipeline.
- gRPC Support: A new model for creating high-performance, cross-platform RPC services.
- Worker Service Template: Background services running outside a web context.
- Improved Razor Components: Reusability of components between Blazor and MVC/Razor Pages.
- Nullable Reference Types: Better null safety features at compile-time.
- Health Checks: Built-in middleware for health checks of applications.
ASP.NET Core 5.0 (2020)
- Unified Platform: Consolidation of .NET Core and .NET Framework into a single .NET 5.0.
- Blazor WebAssembly Improvements: More features and optimizations for client-side Blazor.
- gRPC-Web: Support for gRPC over HTTP/1, enabling gRPC to work with web browsers.
- OpenAPI and Swagger Integration: Simplified support for documenting and testing Web APIs.
- Source Generators: Improved code generation at compile-time for performance gains.
- HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 Support: Improved performance and support for newer HTTP protocols.
ASP.NET Core 6.0 (2021)
- Minimal APIs: Lightweight, minimalistic APIs using simple routing and minimal configuration.
- Improved Blazor Support: Enhancements in Blazor components, rendering, and event handling.
- Hot Reload: Support for editing code while the application is running without restarting.
- Improved Performance: Continued focus on performance improvements across the entire stack.
- HTTP/3 Support: Support for the new HTTP/3 protocol.
- Single Page Application (SPA) Templates: Streamlined SPA templates for React, Angular, and others.
- File Scoped Namespaces: Simplifying namespace declarations.
ASP.NET Core 7.0 (2022)
- Minimal APIs Enhancements: More features and flexibility for lightweight APIs.
- Rate Limiting Middleware: Built-in middleware to limit the rate of requests.
- Improved Blazor Components: More features for enhanced interactivity and rendering.
- Better WebSockets Support: Enhancements to WebSocket handling.
- New Output Caching Middleware: Improved caching options for better performance.
- Native AOT (Ahead-of-Time) Compilation: Performance gains and smaller app footprints through native AOT compilation.
- Improved Identity Support: Better integration of authentication and authorization workflows.
ASP.NET Core 8.0 (2023/2024)
- AI-Assisted Development: Integration with tools like Copilot for code suggestions.
- Enhanced gRPC Support: Continued enhancements in gRPC tooling and performance.
- Blazor Hybrid: A framework for building desktop and mobile applications using Blazor components.
- Unified Authentication and Authorization: Streamlined workflows for authentication and OAuth2/OIDC integration.
- Advanced Minimal APIs: Improved support for crafting even smaller, more efficient web APIs.
- Server-Side Rendering (SSR) for Blazor: Enhancements for rendering Blazor components on the server.
- HTTP/3 Enhancements: Further optimization for HTTP/3 and QUIC protocol.
- Improved WebAssembly Support: Performance improvements in Blazor WebAssembly for mobile and desktop scenarios.
- New Client-Side Blazor Features: More complex logic running entirely in the browser via WebAssembly.
- Edge Rendering Support: Enhanced server-side rendering at the edge.
Key Techniques and Topics in ASP.NET Development:
- Web Forms vs MVC vs Razor Pages: Different approaches for building dynamic web applications.
- Entity Framework (EF Core): For database access via ORM.
- Dependency Injection: Core to the modern ASP.NET Core architecture.
- RESTful APIs and Web API: For building APIs that follow REST principles.
- Real-Time Communication (SignalR): For building real-time applications like chat and notifications.
- Blazor (Server & WebAssembly): C# for building modern web UIs.
- gRPC Services: High-performance remote procedure calls (RPC).
- Async Programming (async/await): Best practices for asynchronous operations.
- Middleware: Customizing the request pipeline with middleware components.
- Caching: Techniques for optimizing performance via in-memory and distributed caches.
- Unit Testing & Integration Testing: Tools and libraries like xUnit, NUnit, and Moq for ensuring code reliability.
- Security Best Practices: Techniques such as HTTPS, OAuth2, IdentityServer, and JWT tokens.
- Deployment: Containerization with Docker, deployment to Kubernetes, Azure, and other cloud services.