Fed up of fighting javascript frameworks?

We need to talk about "modern" web development.

For over a decade Javascript has been considered a prerequisite if you need to build fast, responsive "modern" web applications.

Like a dog chasing its own tail, the javascript machine goes round, and round, generating endless frameworks and a near incomprehensible ecosystem.

Build tools, package managers and compilers; all intended to help you package your code but in truth, you just cross your fingers, hit publish and hope the stars align to generate something you can actually push to your server.

And where does this leave you, the diligent developer trying to build your "simple" web application?

Tired, frustrated and less enthusiastic by the day.

With every new framework, build tool, state management library, you feel less and less productive.

You battle, you slog, you ​finally deploy your application only to have some maverick update an NPM package you didn't realise you relied on and, poof, just like that your site's ​gone up in flames again.

Oh to side-step the JS churn and get back to the fun part; building interesting web applications.

Build amazing ​web applications with Blazor WASM

Javascript is still an important part of the modern web development puzzle (albeit often a frustrating, perplexing, energy-sapping part) but now we have another option...

Microsoft has released Blazor WASM (Web Assembly), and with that ​arrives a JS alternative.

Finally, you can bring your C# skills to the fore, enjoy the benefits of strong-typing, a familiar ecosystem (and tools), ​and ​build web applications that rival all those fancy "JS ​heavy" applications you encounter every day.

Blazor WASM applications are written using C#, and run entirely in the browser (just like javascript). You can build complex, rich, interactive web applications without writing a lick of javascript.

But now you face a new challenge...

How do you ​give Blazor a spin, learn the fundamentals and decide if it's the ​right option for your next project?

Blazor is still new, and it's ​tough to find ​meaningful examples; I mean, if you've seen ​the Blazor demo app once you've seen it a hundred times...

But it's simple right?

Open Visual Studio, create a new Blazor application and you're off; go forth and build ​your applications!

Except... now you have ​questions:

• How do ​I break a requirement down and build it using components?
• How do ​I organise ​my components?
• How do I pass data between components?
• Should I be passing simple primitives or entire objects?
• Where does my data access code go?
• Do ​I need to build ​my own components for everything?

It's a lot to learn, especially if you're just trying to figure out whether Blazor is for you.

What if you could fast-forward to the good bit, the bit where you get to build interesting projects?

Learn Blazor today

Hey, I'm Jon, author of Blazor by Example.

When I first started learning Blazor I realised I had an unfair advantage.

You see, it turns out Blazor borrows a lot of concepts from the leading javascript frameworks out there (React, Angular and Vue)

Essentially Microsoft has taken the best parts of those frameworks and used them to create its own simple (but powerful) component model.

Having spent the last decade or so learning and using most of the leading javascript frameworks, Blazor's component model philosophy instantly clicked for me.

Within a few hours you'll understand:

• How Blazor's component model works
• How to create small, re-usable components
• How to compose several components together to make bigger features
• Where to put your data access code

Here's one of the modules (building a simple blog)...

It's stressful when you're trying to learn something new and can't find concrete examples to work from.

It's maddening when ​you know what ​you're trying to build, but ​don't ​have the right words to put into Google to find answers to ​your questions.

But once you have a few examples under your belt and a repeatable strategy for breaking the requirement down into smaller parts, you'll realise you can build almost anything.