Have you considered using the bleeding-edge TAB (TailwindCSS/Azure/Blazor) stack? Full disclosure, I coined the term recently so if you’ve never heard of it, now you know why 😂. I personally believe this stack deserves a name so going to stick with it for now. Also stay tuned for my upcoming article on Native development with TAMB (TailwindCSS, Azure, MAUI, Blazor) stack as well!
If you are looking for a hands-on tutorial check this out! -> Fast Track Development: TailwindCSS, Azure & Blazor Tutorial 🔥
🔥 You Blaze me Up 🔥
First of all, I am a HUUUUGE fan of the latest .NET 8 (anything beyond .NET 5+) ecosystem. So, this article is really meant to appeal to other likeminded .NET developers. I’ve been developing on .NET since 2010, started off using VB.NET then to C#. (Huge chunk of my 23+ years of coding journey. I started off using DOS prompts, HTML, Css, JavaScript since the age of 13). My journey has been a mix of love and hate. Especially in the early years when technologies were more closed off. I often grappled with very opinionated Microsoft stacks and faced the challenge of managing completely unmanageable, strongly coupled spaghetti WPF/EF projects. There were moments when I questioned the rationale behind choosing the old .NET ecosystem. Naturally I learned to embrace more cutting-edge technologies during the advent of Node.js ecosystem.
Honestly, it was a breath of fresh air to work with Angular/React and all that great MEAN/MERN jazz. However, at a certain point, you begin to wonder why just JavaScript/TypeScript? C# is a beautiful language. I’ve mastered many programming languages over the years, to name a few obviously anything C based (C/C++/Java/JavaScript/TypeScript), others like Python, Rust, Go etc. But still, I genuinely enjoy working with C#. The latest C#12 simply blows my mind. You can learn more about the updates of the latest .NET8 and C#12 beauty here ===> Exploring the Innovations in .NET8 and C#12. They began to bring in all the good things you can find in other languages such as Rust, Python and started adding them to the repertoire. I simply love where it all came to be thus far.
Why TailwindCSS with Blazor?
So, what’s so good about TAB stack? During the advent of the web tech boom, people were going nuts with V8 powered MEAN/MERN stacks. Consequently, HTML/CSS technologies were booming with amazing innovations. However, one CSS framework really stuck with me personally. TailwindCSS. Albeit there are other amazing CSS frameworks, but as a .NET developer at a certain point you get sick and tired of using Bootstrap. TailwindCSS on the other hand is fully customizable, very lightweight. Honestly it has made my web tech coding journey to be incredibly pleasant. If you have never tried working with TailwindCSS you MUST give it a chance.
Azure and Blazor integrations
Why Azure? Well, the power of AWS and GCP is certainly a contender in the mix. But as a .NET developer you cannot ignore the incredible resources, compatibility that Azure offers. I mean, I feel like more than half the nation is using VS code these days. I personally migrated back to using Visual Studio Enterprise because other IDE platforms could not keep up with the latest technology coming out of .NET. Also, the latest Visual Studio really got rid of the clunkiness and the heaviness it once boasted proudly for years.
Simply put, Azure mixes really well with the .NET stacks and its native IDEs. The library that you get out of the box is all you can ask for in a rapid development environment. I started falling in love with the Azure ecosystem, anywhere from Azure Key Vaults, Azure SQL/NoSQL, Azure AI, Azure Functions, Azure APIM, Azure Entra. I mean, you just plug this in all your projects, and you get top level AI, RBAC, security, speed, manageability and scalability out of the box.
Also, the de facto ORM (Entity Framework/Core) is a given in .NET environment so did not explicitly state as part of the stack, but the interoperability is unmatched. I gotta admit, I used to despise Entity Framework in its early days, now I believe nothing even comes close. The data validations, data conversions and the speed of data design, architecture, management you can achieve with EF is far superior to any other ORM for MS SQL and NoSQL.
Who are you Blazor?
Blazor once used to be considered the black sheep of the web community. I probably was the only one around my colleagues to be beyond excited to try it out when it first came out. People were wondering, what is it? Is it another SPA? Why would you use it when we have React, Angular, Vue.js. etc.
In its early days, it was terrible. I think mostly because we weren’t used to the whole Razor syntax, and everyone was also getting sick and tired of ASP.NET way of doing things with bunch of tag-helpers and quirky things you had to do and mixing jQuery just to make things work. But then the Blazor updates started rolling in. People were also getting tired of the React fiasco. Then the security holes in SPA leading people back to server side rendered solutions, Blazor started shining.
🕵🏻 Want to learn more on the latest excitement of .NET technologies? Check out this resource!
What really got me hooked is when client side Blazor came out with web assembly compilations. We were trying out new techs to leverage converting old .NET projects to PWAs. The out of the box inversion of control with dependency injections and the incredible interoperability with HTML/CSS/JavaScript and C# was mind blowing. The shear speed we were able to achieve with using Blazor razor pages as a C# developer were incredible. It was especially incredible when we were able to fully leverage our backend magic with EF Core. There were few things you needed to get used to with UI related tasks, but when things started clicking, we were able to produce some amazing results.
I’m not saying it’s a perfect stack, but man when you have the type of support you can get from its rich .NET ecosystem and being able to leverage those resources, it is simply magical. Like the old wise saying “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” (aphorism known as Clarke’s Third Law 🥸), you feel like a magician working with this stack as a .NET developer.
Blaze me up and subscribe!
I plan on releasing some opensource materials on how to get the best out of this stack I’ve been enjoying. Things, I learned along the way and with all the new updates on all .NET fronts. Also, showcasing the power of using .NET MAUI Blazor with TailwindCSS and Azure (TAMB) stack to create native applications like you would using React Native, but with the power of .NET and Xamarin ecosystem. What an exciting time to explore the advancement of .NET development and I’d love to share with my fellow .NET developers out there and introduce this amazing tech with other developers looking for a solid stack to empower their innovations!
👋🏻 About the Author
Jude Lee stands at the helm of IIInigence, a premier software development company rooted in the heart of Los Angeles. Initiating his journey with an impressive 13-year tenure in the tech industry, Jude has seamlessly transitioned between roles, ranging from a hands-on software developer to a forward-thinking entrepreneur. Primarily, his prowess extends across Web and Mobile Software Development. However, it doesn’t stop there. Furthermore, he’s an expert in business automation and has masterfully integrated artificial intelligence into the fabric of modern business solutions. Finally, as he ventures into the evolving world of web3 and blockchain development, Jude continues to push the boundaries, consistently setting new benchmarks in technological innovation.
🔗 Learn more and connect: https://linkedin.com/in/leejude
🧑🏻💻 Collaborate: https://github.com/judescripts
🏢 Business Contact: iiinigence.com/contact-us