The sections below feature articles on topics I've blogged about and general guidance I provide to clients and other application developers.

GPT-4 and the OpenAI Playground

While the GPT-4 query tool and the OpenAI Playground both provide access to the capabilities of OpenAI's language models, the OpenAI Playground offers a more hands-on and visual interface with additional features that can provide extra capabilities:

Real-time Interaction: The Playground provides an interactive environment where you can see the outputs as you tweak your prompts, which can be quite informative and insightful.

Fine-tuning Parameters: You have the ability to adjust several parameters such as temperature, max tokens, frequency penalty, and presence penalty. This allows for more granular control over the AI's responses.

Presets and Examples: The Playground offers preset examples and templates that can help inspire or guide the creation of prompts. This is useful for learning and exploring the model's capabilities.

Multiple Engines: You can choose from various AI models. While you might be interacting with GPT-4 right now, the Playground allows you to switch between different versions and see how they compare.

Code and Syntax Highlighting: For those who work with code, the Playground provides syntax highlighting, making it easier to write and review code snippets.

Save and Share: You can save your prompts and responses in the Playground, which can be handy for documenting your interactions with the AI. You can also easily share these with others.

Visualization of Tokens: The Playground provides a visualization of how the AI is tokenizing the input, which can be educational for those interested in the inner workings of AI.

API Configuration: For developers, the Playground can be a place to experiment with API settings before implementing them in code.

While the default query tool is straightforward and convenient for a quick interaction, the Playground offers a richer, more nuanced experience. The OpenAI Playground really offers a broader range of creative possibilities.

Transitioning from Classic ASP.NET to ASP.NET Core

If you are a classic ASP.NET developer using the .NET Framework and you are now making the shift to ASP.NET Core, this article is for you.

The idea of moving from classic ASP.NET to a new framework may seem daunting. Rest assured, it's manageable and beneficial for your future projects.

Why .NET Core?

ASP.NET Core offers a host of advantages that make it worth your time. It's cross-platform, which means you can deploy your applications not just on Windows but also on MacOS and Linux.

The performance metrics of .NET Core are impressive and it's designed to be cloud-optimized right out of the "box". .NET Core brings more flexibility and built-in scalability.

Command Line

One of the first things you'll notice is that ASP.NET Core leans heavily on the command line for tasks like project setup and management. While this might seem intimidating at first, you'll quickly come to appreciate the level of control it gives you.

If you have ever set up a starting Angular, React or Node/Express application you will notice that starting a "Dotnet" application from the command line works in a similar way. Becoming proficient with command-line tools is a crucial skill in today's fast-paced development environment.

MVC Architecture

If you're coming from a Web Forms background, the MVC (Model-View-Controller) pattern that ASP.NET Core adopts may be a departure for you. If you have developed classic ASP.NET MVC or "Web API2" projects, you will already be familiar.

MVC is a distinct advantage in that it separates your application into distinct components, making it more maintainable and scalable. Additionally, MVC is an industry-standard design pattern, so getting comfortable with it is well worth your while.

Dependency Injection

Classic ASP.NET offered various ways to manage dependencies, but none as robust as Dependency Injection (DI) in ASP.NET Core. DI enables you to manage your dependencies in a more maintainable and testable way.

If you're new to this concept, now's the perfect time to dive in. You will soon come to appreciate the efficiency and ease of use this pattern provides.

EF Core

Data access methods have also evolved. Entity Framework Core (EF Core) is the new, updated standard and is much-improved over Entity Framework 6, which you may have used with your classic ASP.NET applications.

EF Core is also more lightweight and extensible than its predecessor. It's well-aligned with the philosophies of ASP.NET Core, so taking the time to understand EF Core's CRUD operations is a must.

JSON and REST APIs

Web Forms focused a lot on server controls and postbacks, but the modern web ecosystem is more inclined towards RESTful services and JSON. Learning how to build and consume REST APIs will be an essential skill in your ASP.NET Core journey.

Blazor for Web UI

If you have a strong background in Winforms, Blazor may interest you for developing your web user interfaces. Blazor allows you to use C# for building interactive web UIs, providing an alternative to JavaScript frameworks.

Hands-On Learning

Lastly, there's no substitute for practical experience. Start by creating a small ASP.NET Core project to get a feel for the framework. If possible, try porting a simpler project from .NET Framework to .NET Core to familiarize yourself with the differences and challenges that may arise.

Final Note

Making the move to ASP.NET Core is evolutionary move that classic .NET developers must make to remain relevant for opportunities beyond just those using the classic .NET Framework. By taking a systematic approach to learning its features and understanding its advantages, you can easily be on your way to becoming proficient in ASP.NET Core.

Search Engine Optimization

We are often asked for guidelines on how to optimize web sites to increase the chances of getting listed nearer to the top of Google's search results. The tips below describe the steps you can take to ensure you are configuring your web pages in the best way for Google's algorithm to understand your content and to rank it according to its relevance to a given typed-in search spec. Always remember there are multiple factors that the Google algorithm uses to rank your web site on various criteria. These guidelines are only a single part of an overall SEO plan for good content that will be judged the most relevant for search results that might include your web site. Here are some recommendations.

• Use relevant and targeted keywords in the content of the web site. This will help search engines understand the content of the web site and improve its ranking for those keywords.
• Create a sitemap for the web site and submit it to search engines. A sitemap is a file that lists all the pages of the web site and helps search engines crawl and index the pages.
• Optimize the web site's title and meta tags. The title and meta tags are important elements of the HTML code of a web page and provide information to search engines about the content of the page.
• Ensure that the web site is mobile-friendly. More and more users are accessing the internet from smartphones and tablets, so it's important that the web site is easy to use on mobile devices.
• Use social media to promote the web site and drive traffic to it. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn can be powerful tools for promoting a web site and attracting visitors.
• Use internal linking to help search engines understand the structure of the web site and improve its ranking. Internal linking refers to the practice of linking to other pages within the same web site.
• Monitor the web site's performance and track its traffic. Tools like Google Analytics can help you understand how users are interacting with the web site and identify areas for improvement.

Tip: Using Async/Await Methods in C#

Adopting current best practices for using Async/Await methods in your code is of paramount and current importance.

Some developers are a bit late to the game in adopting this contemporary performance-optimizing design pattern.

Asychronous programming provides the benefit of not blocking the UI while awaiting a method or process to complete.

As opposed to merely resorting to threading, Async functions can be configured to return promises, which are like a placeholder for the return value until it becomes available. Some guidelines are shown below.

• Return a Task or Task<T> (not a void).
• One Exception To The Above Rule:
• You can mark a top level event handler async void, since it won't be called by other methods.
• Never mark any subordinate method as async void.