This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: Microsoft Tech Community - Latest Blogs - .
Greetings to our lovely NTA non-profits. There is a large number of organizations we serve that dedicate their mission to teaching underserved or under resourced communities how to develop new skills in tech, such as learning how to code. This article is specially for you. These non-profits are committed to helping their communities obtain the skills they need in order to enter a career in tech for economical inclusion of their community. In this article I would like to shed some light on Microsoft's Intro to Web Development Learning Series and the .NET learning hub.
Photo Cred : .NET | Free. Cross-platform. Open Source. (microsoft.com)
What is .NET?
.NET is Microsoft's open-source developer platform, available at no cost, and used to build things such as web, desktop and mobile applications, games and more. With .NET you will be able to build apps in the computer languages C# (C-Sharp), F# (F-Sharp) or Visual Basic and it is also cross-platform meaning it is compatible with many common operating systems and devices. This makes learning .NET perfect for the individual niches or learning interests of the very people your organization serves and, whether they want to get into game development or web development, they can all learn the fundamentals together.
Why .NET?
Some of the biggest companies in the world have chosen to have their websites developed using the technologies of .NET and here is why. Not only is .NET considered to have advanced functionality, but it is safe. It has built-in features that support authentication methods that ensure your sites are built strong and support industry standard authentication protocols.
.NET is known for its ease of use due to the requirement of lesser code. Less code means it is easier to find and troubleshoot issues and makes sites easier to maintain.
The ability to build applications across multiple different platforms with the cross-platform feature is a major plus that allows for the use of multiple libraries and editors to work with, and we can't forget to mention that it is cloud-based. Being cloud-based means it's much more cost-effective and in fact, once you get started you are able to host 10 ASP.NET websites for free through Microsoft Azure.
Are you excited yet? I am! If you are as excited about learning .NET as I am keep reading to find out how you or the people your organization serves can start building out websites, applications, and games with .NET technologies!
Photo by Fotis Fotopoulos on Unsplash
Where to Learn .NET
By heading over to Microsoft's .NET site, you will gain access to free resources to help teach you .NET. If you would like to test it out before jumping right in you can find links on the main page that will guide you in 5–10-minute tutorials for using .NET in your console, building a machine learning model, or creating a 3D spinning cube game. You can also find tutorials on how to use it in your browser, on the web, desktop or mobile.
Tap into a plethora of free tutorials and learning paths via Microsoft Learn for .NET and explore LinkedIn learning courses for more resources on programming, software engineering, web development and all the skills you need to become a successful .NET developer. With these resources you will be building amazing things in no time.
Intro to Web Development Learning Series
With access to so many resources at our fingertips, as a beginner sometimes it's hard to know where to start. By signing up for Microsoft's Intro to Web Development Learning Series you will receive 6 weeks of emails from Microsoft's .NET developer community team teaching you the basics of C#, web development and more within the .NET universe. By the end of the series, you will have built an application and published it into the cloud. If you don't know what that means just yet, no worries in 6 weeks you will!
For those who are a bit more advanced beyond the basics, there are resources for you too. Click here and scroll down to the Learning Materials section at the bottom of the page.
Happy coding non-profits and thank you for allowing us to serve you and in turn help better serve our communities!
Game built with .NET - Photo Cred : .NET game development on Windows, Linux, or macOS (microsoft.com)