.NET Core and ASP.NET Core: Student Learning Path

.NET Core Programming for Students

Learn modern .NET and ASP.NET Core step by step, from your first C# program to a working student API. Each lesson includes complete code, explanations, practice and answers.

Before you start

Know basic variables, conditions, loops and classes. Review our C# tutorials if needed. Install a supported .NET SDK, a code editor and an HTTP client.

Understand the names

.NET Core became .NET starting with version 5. ASP.NET Core is the modern web framework. Classic ASP.NET Web Forms belongs to .NET Framework; its pages do not transfer unchanged.

Six-lesson beginner course

1. .NET Core for Students: Setup, C# Basics and Your First Program

   Understand .NET, install an SDK, and write a C# console program with arrays and LINQ.

2. ASP.NET Core for Students: Build Your First Minimal API and Routes

   Create an ASP.NET Core API, return JSON, and understand route parameters and HTTP status codes.

3. ASP.NET Core Middleware Explained for Students with a Runnable Example

   Trace the request pipeline, add a response header, and understand middleware order.

4. ASP.NET Core Dependency Injection: Transient, Scoped and Singleton for Students

   Register services and observe scoped lifetimes with a request identifier example.

5. ASP.NET Core Configuration, Options and Logging: A Student Tutorial

   Read appsettings.json with typed options, override configuration, and write structured logs.

6. ASP.NET Core Student CRUD API: Validation and a Complete Practice Project

   Build a student API with create, read, update, delete, input validation and clear HTTP responses.

Suggested study schedule

Week 1: setup and routes. Week 2: middleware and dependency injection. Week 3: configuration and the CRUD mini project. Spend 45–60 minutes on each lesson, then repeat the exercises without copying.

Next study topics

After this beginner course, study MVC and Razor Pages, model binding, EF Core and SQL databases, migrations, async database access, authentication and authorization, unit and integration testing, exception handling, OpenAPI, deployment and performance. These are follow-on study topics rather than completed lessons in this course.

Final project checklist

• Create, list, update and delete student records.
• Reject invalid names and return correct HTTP status codes.
• Explain middleware order and service lifetimes.
• Move settings out of code and log useful events.
• Explain why memory-only storage loses data on restart.

Microsoft ASP.NET Core documentation · Download .NET · Classic ASP.NET tutorials