Async, EF Core, and AI agents
A varied .NET roundup with async guidance, EF Core production pitfalls, source generators, MCP servers, and Azure SQL performance news.
Jasen's top three picks
- 1 Flatten Arrays and Collections in C#: The Definitive Guide for Fast, Clean Code
medium.com
A solid refresher on flattening collections without turning your code into a LINQ maze.
- 2 Checkpointing & Resuming AI Workflows in .NET
blog.gopenai.com
Checkpointing is the difference between brittle AI demos and workflows you can actually resume in production.
- 3 Async/Await Explained from First Principles
medium.com
A nice first-principles walkthrough for teams still getting async/await behavior straight.
Editor's note
I kept this issue intentionally mixed: there’s practical async advice, production EF Core troubleshooting, and some newer AI platform pieces. The Azure SQL Managed Instance update stood out for anyone watching database throughput, while the MCP server article shows where .NET tooling is heading next.
Today's articles
Flatten Arrays and Collections in C#: The Definitive Guide for Fast, Clean Code
medium.com
If you’ve ever wrangled with multi-dimensional arrays, nested lists, or jagged collections in C#, you know the pain: you just want a…
Topics: C# Design Patterns Performance
Read articleCheckpointing & Resuming AI Workflows in .NET
blog.gopenai.com
When building real-world AI workflows — especially long-running ones — you can’t always expect the entire process to complete in a single… Continue reading on GoPenAI »
Read articleAsync/Await Explained from First Principles
medium.com
1. All programming languages start from the same philosophy All mainstream programming languages are built on the same foundational…
Read articleWhy async void Should Almost Never Be Used in .NET Core
medium.com
Asynchronous programming is a core part of modern .NET applications. The async and await keywords make it easier to write non-blocking…
Read articleClaude Opus 4.6: Anthropic’s powerful model for coding, agents, and enterprise workflows is now available in Microsoft Foundry
azure.microsoft.com
With Claude Opus 4.6 now available in Microsoft Foundry, developers can delegate complex tasks end‑to‑end and trust the AI to execute independently in production. The post Claude Opus 4.6: Anthropic’...
Read articleEF Core Code That Works Locally but Fails in Production (part 2)
c-sharpcorner.com
Avoid EF Core production disasters! Learn how to fix common logic and tracking mistakes like improper Any(), First(), and missing AsNoTracking() for optimal performance.
Topics: .NET 8 EF Core Performance
Read articleClean Architecture With Document Databases, Minimal APIs, and CQRS in .NET 10
medium.com
Part 1 — Laying a Rock-Solid Foundation Continue reading on Stackademic »
Topics: Clean Architecture CQRS Minimal APIs
Read articleAzure SQL Managed Instance just got WAY faster - Meet Next gen GP | Data Exposed
youtube.com
Microsoft Azure SQL: https://aka.ms/msazuresqlyt In this episode, Anna Hoffman and Uros Milanovic explain how you get lower latency, higher throughput and IOPS, more storage and databases per instanc...
Topics: Azure Performance SQL Server
Read articleHandle data set pagination with `PagedListResult`
iamrzr.medium.com
Overview
Topics: C# Performance Web API
Read articleUnderstanding the Microsoft.Agents.AI API — A .NET Developer’s Guide
medium.com
AI agents are changing how we build intelligent applications — from chatbots and workflow assistants to decision automation systems.
Read articleLearn Visual Studio Code in 15 minutes: 2026 Official Beginner Tutorial
youtube.com
Get started in Visual Studio Code in just 15 minutes in this easy-to-follow tutorial! Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/vscode.dev
Topics: C# .NET Core Visual Studio Code
Read article.NET Source Generators with Jason Bock
dotnetrocks.com
Why would you write code to generate code? Carl and Richard talk with Jason Bock about his experiences using modern .NET source generators to optimize certain aspects of applications. Jason talks abou...
Topics: C# Roslyn Source Generators
Read articlePart 2: Build an MCP Server in C#/.NET and Enrich It With Repository Context
medium.com
The .NET ecosystem now has an official C# MCP SDK plus project templates that get you from “zero” to a working server fast.
Topics: C# OpenAI Visual Studio Code
Read article