TypeScript for .NET Engineers
A comprehensive guide for senior .NET engineers transitioning to the modern TypeScript/Node.js ecosystem.
Who This Book Is For
This book is designed for senior .NET engineers — people with deep Microsoft experience (C#, ASP.NET, SQL Server, Azure DevOps, Visual Studio) — who are transitioning into a modern open-source stack built on TypeScript, Node.js, React/Vue, PostgreSQL, and GitHub-centric workflows.
This is not a beginner curriculum. It assumes strong engineering fundamentals and focuses on mapping existing knowledge to new tools, closing specific gaps, and building fluency in the ecosystem conventions that differ from the Microsoft world.
You should read this book if you are:
- A senior engineer with 5+ years of .NET/Microsoft stack experience
- Comfortable with strongly-typed languages, ORMs, middleware pipelines, and enterprise patterns
- Now working on (or transitioning to) projects using: Next.js, NestJS, React, Vue 3, PostgreSQL, GitHub, CLI-first tooling
Our Stack
Every concept in this book is grounded in a specific, opinionated toolchain. We don’t survey the ecosystem — we teach our stack and explain why we chose it.
| Category | Our Tool | .NET Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Frontend Framework | React (Next.js) / Vue 3 (Nuxt) | Blazor / Razor Pages |
| Backend Framework | NestJS | ASP.NET Core |
| Database | PostgreSQL | SQL Server |
| ORM | Prisma / Drizzle | Entity Framework |
| Auth | Clerk | ASP.NET Identity / Azure AD |
| Hosting | Render | Azure App Service / IIS |
| Error Monitoring | Sentry | Application Insights |
| Code Quality | SonarCloud | SonarQube |
| Security Scanning | Snyk + Semgrep | Fortify / Veracode |
| AI Coding Assistant | Claude Code (CLI) | GitHub Copilot |
| Version Control | GitHub (CLI-first) | Azure DevOps / TFS |
| Package Manager | pnpm | NuGet |
| Type Safety | TypeScript + Zod | C# type system |
How This Book Is Organized
The book is organized into 9 parts with 78 chapters, plus 4 appendices:
- Foundation & Mental Models — Mapping .NET concepts to the JS/TS world
- TypeScript Deep Dive — The type system that replaces C#
- Frontend Frameworks — React, Vue 3, Next.js, Nuxt
- Backend with NestJS — The ASP.NET Core of Node.js
- Polyglot Architectures — When .NET or Python is the right backend
- Data Layer — PostgreSQL, ORMs, migrations
- DevOps & Toolchain — GitHub, CI/CD, Render, Docker
- Security & Quality — Sentry, SonarCloud, Snyk, Semgrep
- Workflow & Productivity — Claude Code, CLI workflows, team conventions
Recommended reading order: Work through Parts I–III in the first two weeks, then continue through the remaining parts as you begin project work. Each chapter is self-contained but builds on concepts from earlier chapters.
Design Principles
- Respect your intelligence — you are a senior engineer, not a bootcamp student
- Always bridge from .NET — every concept is grounded in what you already know
- Show real code — examples from actual projects, not toy demos
- CLI-first — we work in terminals, not GUIs
- Opinionated — we chose this stack for reasons; we’ll explain them
Expected Outcome
After completing this book, you should be able to:
- Stand up a full Next.js or NestJS project from scratch
- Write idiomatic TypeScript with proper type safety across all layers
- Work confidently with PostgreSQL and a TypeScript ORM
- Use GitHub, Render, Sentry, and the security tools without hand-holding
- Use Claude Code as a daily productivity tool
- Architect polyglot systems — knowing when to keep .NET, when to add Python, and how to maintain type safety across language boundaries
- Ship your first PR within the first week of project work