How Can I Truly Understand ASP.NET Core Instead of Just Using It?

To truly grasp web development, you could start by building a basic HTTP web server yourself, learning AJAX, and getting comfortable with SQL. All these libraries and frameworks you encounter are just abstractions added on top of these core concepts.

You don't have to stick to frameworks like Entity Framework or ASP.NET Identity if you want to learn more about the fundamentals. You can implement your own solutions using direct SQL calls, which many companies still prefer. While those tools are great for speeding up enterprise development, focusing on learning ASP.NET Core through more traditional methods while using C# can deepen your understanding.

If you want a deep understanding of ASP.NET Core, start with the official Microsoft documentation. Seriously, read through everything on their site – every link and every section. It might feel tedious and could take you a couple of years, but this is the path to really grasping ASP.NET Core at a fundamental level. Avoid shortcuts and dig into the details!

Make sure you understand how HTTP and SQL work first. These are the building blocks. Once you have those down, figure out how to combine HTML and JavaScript with SQL – that’s where middleware comes into play. It's the same concept across various web technologies, whether it’s PHP, ASP, or Node.js. You connect a web server to a database server to manage data efficiently through a browser.

While coding in ASP.NET doesn't require you to know every detail of how it works under the hood, understanding the higher-level concepts is crucial. I've been working with ASP.NET for over a decade without digging deep into the internals, but I still have a solid grasp of how everything fits together at a higher level. Focus on high-level documentation to understand how ASP.NET operates, but it’s good to know HTTP and SQL fundamentals independently, as they’re essential.