Top 20 C# courses for a long-lasting future in programming

“C# is dying”

“I will have no future if I study C#”

“By 2030, C# will be gone from the world of computing” …

Well, these are not my assessments about C#, or those of a tech guru. These are the usual murmuring sounds one hears when one talks about this programming language.  I am writing this blog to clear a lot of misconceptions about the features and abilities of this language, which should help you get an idea about the top 20 C# courses.

Before I get down to these topics and proceed to suggest the top 20 C# courses that will put you on the path forward, I want to categorically state these facts about C#:

C# is an evolving language:

This is evidenced by the fact that in the two decades of its birth, it has got along, if you like, with all the technologies that have emerged on the centerstage. Since it is a flexible and not a static language, it is extremely well-suited for all the current day technologies, such as Data Science, cloud, AI, ML, and what have you. C# was as well suited for all the technologies of the previous versions and eras. This is not surprising, when one looks at the very origins of C#. Microsoft designed this programming language making it a product that blended the best elements of java, C, and C++, which is the strongest reason to believe that anyone who makes the doomsday prophecy for C# is missing the mark by miles.

It continues to adapt:

In line with the point above, let us take into account the fact that far from being rigid, C# has only got better with each avatar. Every new version that has come out from the Microsoft stable has included something of significance for C#. This guarantees that C# is not a flash in the pan.

It combines superbly with .NET:

C# works with .NET, which is currently in its fifth version (.NET 5). Now, why is this point relevant to this section of this blog? Here it goes: .NET 5 is a single open source software development framework with which software applications are built for range of mediums such as mobile, desktop, web, cloud, IoT and lots other. This means that so long as we continue to use these, .NET, and by extension, C#, is going to be in use.

It is ideal for building games:

Well, we are all game addicts in varying degrees! It is difficult to resist the magic of games. Around a third of all top games are built on the Unity engine. C# is one of the most popular languages for creating games using Unity. This makes it a terrific tool for creating games. As gaming continues to grow at a breakneck speed, it is natural to expect C# to grow too.

In addition, it comes with its usual, core characteristics, which are:

• It is scalable.
• It is compatible with most other programming languages, which makes it quite a pal of these.
• It integrates completely with the .NET library.

So, with these strong factors in its favor, does it make sense to fear for the future of this programming language? The strongest indicator of the mettle it is made up of lies in the fact that it continues to remain the fourth or the fifth most popular programming language in the world-depending on which index you are looking at-something of a feat considering that it has been around for so long.

If nearly 30 percent of professional developers use it (as of 2021), and if it still commands a pay of between $92,000 and $116,000, one has to hail its longevity and endurance!

So, which are the factors that have made C# what it is? Let us examine some of them:

• It is a structured, component-oriented, multi-paradigm, yet simple and readable programming language that supports all Microsoft products.
• You can build powerful tools using it.
• With there being no type conversion in it, it completely prevents data loss.
• It works well with most codebases, which is another feather in its cap.
• It is a master at resolving version control issues, making programming faster.
• It is a lot less expensive to maintain it compared to most other languages.
• And yes, it comes with its own garbage collector.
• It is flexible, although C++ beats it on this score.

Does all this mean that C# has no drawbacks? It does. Let us take a look at some of these too:

• One factor that goes strongly against C# is that its execution speed is not as fast as one would expect.
• C# lacks an independent compiler.
• It blocks access to the system’s hardware, something that some programmers frown upon.
• Being from Microsoft, its priority is on the Windows platform, which means it gives relatively less importance to other platforms it may be required to work on.

Now, with this much said about C#, let us now turn our attention to the top 20 C# courses, which we hope, will place you up the ladder to your growth in computer programming:

1. Software Architecture: Dependency Injection for C# Devs

This software architecture course is essentially about how C# developers can build Dependency Injection (DI) with IoC-Containers. For the uninitiated, a dependency injection is a bunch of techniques with which a developer supplies dependencies to objects.

DI can be quite confusing, if one fails to grasp the fundamental concepts behind it. It is dichotomous, because one aspect of it, namely, passing dependencies via constructors applying the constructor engine, appears simple. Yet, as one goes to the next level, that of using DI or IoC (Inversion of Control) Containers, things can get a bit complicated. With this course, you will be able to build a solid foundation in software architecture applying Dependency Injection with IoC-Containers, which will help overcome these shortcomings.

The tutor for this course will familiarize you with the frameworks which perform DI automatically. This is the root of the issue, really, because once you understand how to set up a DI in the application root, you will have got a clue to understanding an extremely important notion, which will resolve all the dependencies it knows about in the runtime.

By combining the theoretical aspects with practical, hands-on methods, this course covers all aspects relating to DI and Inversion of Control. It teaches you the following topics:

• Introduction to Inversion of Control
• Dependency Inversion Principle (DIP), Inversion of Control (IoC), Dependency Injection (DI),
• Dependencies and their types, Pure DI and IoC-Containers, Service Locator
• The Architectural Implications of Dependency Injection
• DI-related Anti-Patterns & Refactorings:
• Control Freak, Hidden Dependencies, Temporal Coupling
• Constructor Over-Injection and how to avoid it
• Ambient Context, Facade Service, Property Injection vs Bastard Injection, Cyclic Dependencies
• Refactoring Example of an existing code base applying Dependency Injection
• How to reap the fruits of DI
• DI-Containers (IoC-Containers):
• Overview, Unity, Late Binding with Unity, Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP), Interception vs Pure DI vs AOP Tools
• Setting up a bootstrapper with Unity, Autofac and Castle. Windsor.

2. Learn Enterprise WPF with XAML from Scratch

This course will give beginner to intermediate level programmers a proper understanding of the WPF and XAML concepts and tools that they will need to build fully functional UI-applications using the modern UI-building framework, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).

WPF being a very expansive platform, this course includes only the topics needed for developing a full-fledged Windows UI-application. It leaves out a few advanced topics such as interoperation with Windows Forms, skinning, creating custom markup extensions, etc.

Learners will gain a deep understanding of the WPF platform. One of the aspects they will learn is how the layout process really works. With this understanding, they will be able to compose XAML quicker. The combination of theory and practice that this course has will help learners overcome challenges, such as the events system of WPF, which can be quite baffling for someone who doesn’t have a clear and deep understanding of how it works in practice.

This course will cover:

• Basic notions of UI-development
• Controls
• Layout
• Data-Binding
• Core-Types of WPF
• Events and Dependency Properties
• Templates
• Resources
• Styles
• User Controls
• Custom Controls
• WPF application model (threading model, app life-cycle).

3. Learn to Code in C# in Unity 3D

Learn to Code in C# in Unity 3D is a wonderful course that introduces you to C# as used by Unity.  It gives you an understanding of the basic concepts of C#, such as variables, functions, arrays, loops, object-oriented programming, classes, inheritance, and data encapsulation.

It offers learning on these concepts because they form a strong base for understanding what C# programmers want to do in the future in their profession. In this course, students will get exposed to all the elements of C#, such as:

• C# Variables and Functions
• C# Loops
• Object-Oriented Programming
• Conditional Logic
• Code Reusability (DRY Principle).

At this course, the following topics form part of the syllabus:

• Variables in Unity 3D
• Numbers in Unity 3D
• Conditionals in Unity 3D
• Arrays & loops in Unity 3D
• Functions & methods in Unity 3D
• Object oriented programming & inheritance in Unity.

4. Modern .NET Ecosystem and .NET Core

This course separates the core from the peripheral by giving you an idea of the latest and most relevant technologies that need to be learn under the .NET umbrella. There are just so many technologies under .NET that the variety can be baffling, to say the least. Many learners get lost in this large canopy of technologies.

This course aims to help you stay clear of the muddle. It will help you build a deep and clear understanding of .NET concepts. It will give you a proper and clear picture of what is happening in the world of .NET technologies. You will be able to understand what can be and what cannot be done with specific technologies. It offers you a clear roadmap for what to pursue in this area.

It will benefit both the newbie as well as the seasoned programmer. To sum up, this course is for those who want to get a sense of direction about pursuing a career in .NET technologies.

 The tutor will broadly cover these topics at this course:

• Classic .NET platform
• Mono platform
• .NET Core
• .NET Native
• An understanding of UWP and WinRT, and how they are related to each other
• Roslyn as a compiler platform
• NuGet as a system of dependencies management
• Installation of .NET Core
• Command-Line Interface (CLI) of .NET Core
• Deployment in .NET Core: SCD and FDD
• The problem of cross-compiling
• Portable Class Library (PCL)
• .NET Standard
• .NET Portability Analyzer
• Unit-Testing in .NET Core
• A quick overview of the upcoming changes.

5. C# in Depth: Puzzles, Gotchas, Questions at Interviews

Have you explored the medium of quizzes in getting a grasp of technologies and making the learning stay in the mind? The tutor of this advanced C# course will load the course with highly interesting quizzes, all of which will make the learning as attractive and playful as one can imagine.

With this course, you will build a solid foundation in C# learning, as it shows you how the language is designed. In teaching you very important things like the problem of types substitution, this course deepens your understanding of C#.

Through games, puzzles, gotchas and cautionary tales, this course will show you examples in topics such as Visual Studio and others. You will learn how to do the following at this course:

• Write code with more confidence
• Understand how C# arithmetic works
• Avoid Date and Time Pitfalls
• Avoid LSP Violations
• Write more robust code
• Pass C# Interview.

6. Learn Unit Testing with NUnit and C#

With this course, you will learn how to write effective unit tests using C# programming language and NUnit as a unit testing framework. You will also learn concepts related to unit testing. It will give you a deep understanding of the concepts and tools that you will need to build maintainable and reliable software.

Given the critical importance that unit testing has for a professional developer, this course, which is about writing effective unit tests using C# programming language and NUnit as a unit testing framework, will put you right up there.

It will teach you the basics of unit testing. It will pose and answer questions such as:

• What is a unit test?
• What unit testing frameworks exist?
• How to run and debug unit tests.
• Turning to the NUnit
• How to install the framework and set the runner
• Basics of assertions and arrange-act-assert triplet
• Running tests from the console
• Setup and teardown unit tests
• Parameterized tests
• Grouping and ignoring.

7. Create Your Calculator: Learn C# Programming Basics Fast

Want to get started on C#? This course is just what you need. It will start off with the basics of C#. Once you become familiar with the concepts, you will be made to create your own calculator as part of the learning.

This course will cover the following:

• Getting Started
• Hello World Application
• Data Types and Variables
• Data Types Conversion
• Arithmetic Operators
• Relation Operators
• Assignment Operators
• Array
• Decision Making
• Decision Making II
• Loops I to V
• Methods
• Objects and Classes I and II
• Putting All Together

8. Learn SOLID principles with C#

Are you intimidated by tough interview questions relating to SOLID principles? Do you get jittery when the questions get tough? No more, because this course will equip you with the technical strength needed to tackle questions on SOLID.

It will explain how to answer questions on C# Design Patterns. The basis to answering these questions, obviously, is sound knowledge of the concepts. This is what this course will arm you with.

The tutor will go in-depth into some of the questions that trouble developers the most. Some of these include:

• What are Design Patterns?
• How can questions on Design Patterns be answered in an interview?
• How many Design Patterns are there and how and where to use them?
• How can one Design Pattern be compared with another to suit project requirements?

You will get an in-depth understanding of these concepts with the following curricula:

• SOLID Principles With Code Sample
• Understanding of Design Patterns
• Understanding Dependency Injection and Inversion of Control
• Creational Design Patterns
• Structural Design Patterns
• Behavior Design Patterns.

9. Up and Running with Blazor

Blazor, the new Microsoft Single Page Application (SPA) for developing web application, enables you to develop web application fully in C# language from the back to the front end.

This course will give you a solid understanding of this application. It will familiarize you with Blazor to the extent where you will be able to build an entire application using only .NET, so that your application will be fully written in C#.

All this learning will be taught through the following syllabus outline:

• Installing Blazor
• Blazor Hello World application
• How Does it Work
• Razor Overview
• Working With Components
• Routing
• One-Way Data Binding
• Two-Way Data Binding
• Event Binding
• Dependency Injection Part 1
• Dependency Injection Part 2
• Layouts.

10. Selenium, C# and Everything in Between

With this course, you will gain a high level of proficiency at Automation Testing (both beginners and advanced). A complete end to end project with real world solution structure and development patterns, this course gives special attention to real world problems, which will help automation testing professionals how to fix/solve/bypass them. You will learn how to create logic layers and use development patterns to take automation to the next level.

Rather than being purely theoretical, this course offers you learning on how to use and implement the Selenium web driver. It will show how to use it in the real world by building a complete testing solution with dynamic testing, schedule runs, reporting and branching.

It will teach you all the tips, tricks and secrets that are not available on the Net.

So, how does this course help you? You will gain solid advantage when looking for Web Automation Developer position. This course will teach you how to deal with the most complicated web automation issues.

Rather than covering the academic aspects of Selenium rather, this course will show you how to use Selenium with an enterprise level solution and how to create a powerful framework and API’s which can be consumed by other developers.

11. Android Game Development: Build Two 2D Game with Unity C#

Want to push your creativity by challenging yourself to build your own game? This course should be the right guide for you. This android game development course, at which you will learn to build two 2D games with Unity C#, will enable you to create your own game in Flappy Bird and space shooter, and beyond.

Aimed at the Unity and C# beginner and intermediate professional alike, this course will teach you everything that you want to learn about android game development. The learning includes how to:

• Build Game for Android & iOS
• Make Score System
• Make Health & Gold functionality
• Add sound effects
• Create Animated Main Menu
• Use UI
• Use Animator and Animation
• Use 2D Colliders
• Script with C#
• Create Spawn Managers
• Level design
• Make analog system on android devices
• Make buttons functionality.

12. C# 7.x Tips, Tricks, and Techniques

How about making your C# learning interesting with quizzes and techniques and augmenting your C# 7.x development? That is what this course does.

It departs from the conventional, textual learning and sprinkles it with lots of quizzes, tips, anecdotes and techniques, all of which will make your learning of C# 7.x development extremely enticing and interesting.

With this course, you will be able to implement practical and proven techniques to improve C# 7.x development. Each section covers tips and techniques with solid instructions on the ways of carrying out different C# 7.x tasks in a practical manner.

The direct benefit of this kind of learning is that C# will lose much of its complexity. Its many rules, which can be quite a put off for those who learn it afresh, will appear a lot simpler than you thought they were.

This course will sharpen your skills by showing you how to better your coding style and performance. You will learn about C# 7.x processes and code quality and explore new possibilities with C# 7.x that will be a tremendous value addition to your current skill set.

You will learn a few exciting tips, best practices, and techniques for your C# 7.x coding. By the time you complete this course, you will have learnt how to build your own desktop applications in C# 7.x much faster and more easily.

You will:

• Be able to implement practical and proven techniques to improve particular aspects of C# 7.x development
• Learn to take advantage of the new tuples in C# 7.x and see what they can now do
• Discover the new pattern matching features and what you can do with switch case statements
• Build local functions inside functions. Yes, those local functions can be recursive too
• Explore what variables can do for you and how they clean up your code
• Discover how you can now use expression body syntax for constructors, finalizers, and indexers.

13. Going Serverless with .NET

Serverless architecture is a kind of architecture with which you can build and run applications and services without having to manage the infrastructure. The direct benefit of this paradigm is obvious: it saves organizations large sums of money and helps improve scalability.

With this course, you can design serverless architectures for your applications with Microsoft Azure as the cloud service provider, using the .NET Core runtime.

It will give you a thorough understanding of serverless architecture and familiarize you with its advantages and disadvantages. It will teach you how to set up the Azure environment and test a simple serverless function using AWS platform.

From here you will learn to build a real multi-tier, a serverless application with C# as the scripting language. The ways of building, testing and deploying the Middle tier application along with Data and Presentation tiers are also taught. And then, you will become proficient at how to test, secure and authenticate your serverless application.

The key takeaway from this course is that you will have gained the knowledge needed to build scalable and cost-efficient .NET applications with serverless architectures.

This is the essence of the learning you will get from this course:

• Understand the advantages of serverless architecture
• Get started with the tools and SDKs required to work with Azure and AWS
• Build serverless applications end-to-end using Microsoft Azure and .NET example
• Learn by example how to build serverless architectures using cloud-based APIs, cloud data storage, and security
• Learn by example how to check performance and debug your application.

14. 50 Things You’ve Been Doing Wrong in C# and .NET Core

Anyone who is serious about taking their C# and .NET core skills to the next level and wants to avoid common mistakes when coding, using design patterns, developing microservices, persisting their data, securing their application, and debugging, will find this course tailormade for them.

The core of this course is that it helps you to avoid common C# mistakes to improve your apps’ productivity. You will gain the skills to weed out coding issues and resolve your .net and C# issues. You will benefit from the tutor’s hard-earned experience of the C# language and .NET platform, garnered from real-life situations.

With this course, you will:

• Deeply understand popular data structures (such as lists, arrays, LinkedList, HashSet, and dictionaries) and use the most efficient one depending on the problem you are trying to solve
• Persist your data to a database properly by learning about efficiency and concurrency aspects when using the Entity framework
• Navigate the complicated world of microservices and deliver robust RESTful APIs that follow the best industry standards
• Grasp why circular dependencies are bad and how to avoid chatty traffic, eventually leading to more robust microservices
• Identify and fix common programming problems with proven design patterns
• Know how to use SOLID principles the right way with improved code quality and readability
• Learn how to use HTTP verbs, and HTTPClient properly, and classify your resources appropriately
• Effectively debug, design, and secure your code.

15. Hands-On Parallel Programming with C# 8 and .NET Core 3.0

The concept of parallel programming gained ground to match the industry standard of increasing processing power of machines. However, many developers consider concurrency complex, because of which they lack the confidence to write concurrent code. This course will dispel this thinking and help you become a thorough professional at writing thread-safe code.

Comprising of the latest C#8 and .NET Core 3.0 updates, this course will introduce you to the concepts of parallel programming in .NET Core and teach you how to take advantage of the hardware. During the course, you will implement TPL and PLINQ, which will help you to optimize a processor and boost the speed and performance of your .NET Core applications.

You will also apply parallel programming to your data structures. It will show you how to parallelize your code to increase its efficiency and distribute work across multiple processors.

With the learning from this course, you will know how to:

• Apply the core concept of parallel programming in .NET Core
• Build an application using Microsoft’s library for writing parallel code, Task Parallel Library (TPL)
• Design parallel execution flows using Parallel LINQ (PLINQ)
• Secure your parallel code from unexpected exceptions by applying efficient exception handling strategies
• Create parallel code using data structures that were specifically built for parallel execution optimization.

16. BDD in C# – Using Specflow (Cucumber) to Develop a REST API and Automate Software Testing

This course will show you how to develop software in Behavior Driven Development (BDD) using Specflow, which is part of the Cucumber software family of tools for software testing automation.

You will gain a solid idea about BDD in C# and how this can be done using Specflow, which is the .Net implementation of Cucumber.

Specflow’s core features, such as installation, scenarios, features, tags, hooks, scenario outlines, scoped bindings, step definitions, running tests, among many others, will be explained in detail.

These are what you will learn from this course:

• Develop software in BDD (Behavior Driven Development) using Cucumber software
• Use Specflow to develop software applications
• Collaborate with other team members (developers, stakeholders, testers, etc.) through Specflow to create a better product
• Develop a working REST API using Specflow following the BDD process.

17. Beginner Object Oriented Programming In C# and .NET Core

It is an indisputable fact that the stronger the fundamentals of any skill or learning, the greater the ability to perform with these. The big advantage from this course is that you will learn the fundamentals of object oriented programming (OOP) in C# and .NET Core from a thoroughbred professional. The numerous, clear examples with which this learning is imparted, is the highlight of this course.

The nub of this course is that the tutor will demystify all the so-called complexities about OOP. He will lay down its essentials threadbare, so that you know how to go about it without getting stuck. With a bunch of examples, he will show how OOP concepts work, especially in .NET and C#.

He will ensure that you don’t split hairs about the various jargons on this subject. You will understand how to organize your program in a way that makes it maintainable, scalable and readable. This opens the doors for getting paid as a software developer or a web developer.

These are what this course consists of:

• Big picture understanding of what programs are and why even use Object Oriented Programming
• 4 Main pillars of Object Oriented Programming
• Down to earth examples to let you fully understand each concept
• How to utilize each pillar of Object Oriented Programming in your own project

18. Learning Microsoft Azure

This comprehensive course will make you proficient at the fundamental services of Azure and show you how to leverage these services for your organization. You will be able to put the fundamentals of Azure Services into action. The insights this course gives through practical examples will let you choose, plan, deploy, and maintain AWS.

The learning from this course will help you:

• Implement Azure Infrastructure components (storage, networking, virtual Machines)
• Understand the basics of automated deployments from Azure Resource Manager Templates
• Explore the various Azure Platform services (web Apps, machine learning, and databases) and learn how to deploy them
• Get acquainted with the use of Azure PaaS, machine learning, and database solutions
• Study the Azure SQL Server database
• Understand Azure Monitoring solutions
• Discover Azure Disaster Recovery solutions
• Analyze Azure insights and get well versed with disaster recovery.

19. Introducing Test Driven Development in C#

There is little doubt that as a technique, Test Driven Development (TDD) continues to be one of the best practices when it comes to writing maintainable, robust, and testable code. Through concrete and practical examples in C# 7, this introductory course on TDD teaches you how to use TDD in everyday work and write high-quality code.

It covers key concepts, methods, and patterns behind TDD. By the end of this course, you will be equipped with all the tools you need to start building bulletproof applications, backed by an automated suite of tests to ensure quality software delivery.

From this course, you will:

• Explore the essentials of TDD
• Know how to test your code using unit tests and unit test frameworks
• Understand how to add test support to your project
• Learn how to write testable and maintainable code
• Understand why SOLID principles are important for testing
• Learn which anti-patterns should be avoided
• Learn what mocking is and how to use mocking frameworks
• Understand the selection of design patterns.

20. Learn C# Coding Basics for Beginners: C# Fundamentals

The C# cross- platform programming language is ideally suited for building mobile apps (for Windows, Android and iOS), games, websites, and desktop applications. The first and most important prerequisite for being able to creating these uses from this language is to have a strong foundation of its concepts and logic.

This course is designed to teach you the fundamentals of C# and .NET Framework. You will understand the framework structure, how to set up a local development environment, variables, data types, and lots more, which will strengthen your C# development abilities.

In addition to being skilled for carrying out the functions of this language, knowing it well brings another advantage: you can use these foundations to other programming languages and technology stacks. And yes, you can master web development as well with these basics.

These are what you will learn from this course:

• Fundamentals of C# and .NET Framework
• The framework structure
• Setting up local development environment
• Variables and Datatypes
• Operators and Strings in C#
• Sequences and Statements
• Control flow statements
• Using Arrays and lists
• Working with File and Directories
• Working with datetime and timespan
• Debugging C# applications effectively.

So, dear readers, I come to the end of my list of the top 20 C# courses. The exercise of familiarizing you with these courses to ensure that you have a long-lasting future in programming was a thoroughly enjoyable one, I should say. The process of scouring through the webpages, selecting the appropriate courses, and then narrating each of these in detail was exhilarating stuff!

I hope you liked what you have read about these courses. My main objective, as with all the other blogs in this series, is to ensure that you get some idea about which course to choose to embark on a career in C#, or discover ways of growing in it if you have already started off.

I hope I have done some justice to what I set out to do. Please feel free to explore these courses and make the most out of them. And, don’t forget to let us know what you think about these top 20 C# courses.