What Exactly Is .NET Core MVC?
The MVC acronym is used to refer to a design pattern called model-view-controller. This design pattern is employed to various degrees in a variety of languages and frameworks, so what makes .NET MVC different?
ASP.NET MVC is a framework for building powerful web applications that applies the general model-view-controller design pattern to the ASP.NET development platform. It’s also a means of agile development, a central part of the ASP.NET platform, and a replacement for the outdated and slow Web Forms. With .NET Core, the MVC framework goes a step further, adding to it the ability to incorporate RESTful API development as well.
So you see, .NET MVC is so much more than just a design pattern. As you progress through the rest of this course, you’ll begin to gain an understanding of just what .NET MVC has to offer, and the power and flexibility it provides you as a .NET developer.
Why Do I Need to Learn .NET Core MVC?
We’ve established that .NET Core is a lot more than just the C# language. It’s an entire software development platform that enables its developers to build projects for all operating systems and all devices. You can build desktop apps, web apps, mobile apps, even embedded apps, and .NET MVC is just one piece of that platform. So why is it important to learn?
The answer is simple. If you want to be competitive as a .NET developer, you must know and understand .NET MVC, and if you want to be an in-demand developer, you must acquire .NET development skills.
There are currently more unfilled positions in the U.S. and throughout the world which list C# and/or .NET development as desired skills than for any other language (indeed.com) and .NET MVC is at the heart of .NET development.
Getting Started
To get started learning .NET MVC, you only need two things: 1) a strong desire to learn this outstanding development framework, and 2) the Visual Studio IDE. I recommend using either VS 2017 or VS 2019. The Community Edition is completely free to use. If you haven’t done so already, you can download the IDE to get started.
Although we will spend some time discussing the Visual Studio IDE and walking you through a few important processes, if you haven’t already taken our course Set Up Your .NET Coding Environment With Visual Studio, you might consider doing so, as it will likely increase the speed at which you move through the coding exercises for this course.
Once Visual Studio is installed, you’re ready to get started. Your first .NET MVC application is called Watchlist. This is a simple inventory and rating system for movies you have seen or own. The application will use a relational database to store information you enter, including the rating (1 to 5 stars) you assign to each movie. You’ll then be able to view, sort, and search your list of movies by any of several criteria.
This will be a fun app to develop, and it might even be a useful one for you once it’s done. So let’s start coding it.
Let's Recap!
This was a pretty short chapter, but it provided a few key pieces of information to prepare you for what’s coming next:
You’ve learned how .NET MVC is so much more than just a design pattern; that it’s a development framework that employs the pattern in building powerful web applications.
You’ve learned why it’s such an important part of your work in becoming a capable .NET developer and how it’s central to the overall .NET development platform.
We briefly discussed the Watchlist application; your first project for this course.
In the next chapter, we’re going to jump right in and get started building this application, but first, we’ll make sure you’re set up with an Azure account so you can publish your applications online.
