Editor's note
I curated a pretty mixed lineup today, with practical wins alongside fundamentals. The cloud-cost post and the transactional outbox article stood out because both tie architecture choices directly to real operational impact. I also liked the CLR deep dive and the SOAP modernization piece for teams keeping older systems alive.
Cloud savings, EF Core, and .NET modernization
Jasen Fici
January 23, 2026
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Today's Articles
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Jasen's take on today's picks
The .NET Core Feature That Saved Us 40% Cloud Cost Overnight
A real-world example of trimming cloud spend by 40% makes this one immediately useful for teams watching their bills.
Implementing Transactional Outbox Pattern in .NET Microservices — Ensuring Eventual Consistency
Transactional outbox remains one of those patterns that looks academic until you need reliable event publishing across services.
Secure file upload validation in .NET: A layered approach
File upload validation is a deceptively broad security problem, and this layered approach is the right way to think about it.
Add Images to PDFs in C#: The Definitive Guide for Modern .NET Projects
Adding images to PDFs sounds routine until formatting, rendering, and library behavior start fighting back.
EF Core Tricks for Bulk Reading Large Data Sets
Bulk reads are where EF Core apps often leak time, and these techniques should help on real datasets.
Exception Handling in C#: Why Your App Still Crashes Even With Try-Catch
Try-catch only handles one slice of failure, so this is a useful reminder to design for exceptions, not just catch them.
What the CLR Really Does While Your App Is Running
CLR internals are always worth revisiting because they explain so many runtime behaviors developers usually treat as magic.
7 Entity Framework Core Optimization Techniques
More EF Core optimization advice is welcome when it stays grounded in handler-level performance work.
Modernizing .NET — Part 7: From Web References to Service References
Modernizing SOAP clients is still very relevant for shops carrying forward older contracts and frameworks.
Dotnet vs. Java in 2026: One for the Brain, One for the Backbone.
The Java comparison is more opinionated than technical, but it still reflects how developers frame platform tradeoffs.
⚠ Redis Batch Deadlock — A Hidden Async Bug
Redis deadlocks are exactly the kind of async bug that can waste hours because the code looks harmless.
The Realistic .NET Developer Roadmap for Absolute Beginners
A beginner roadmap that admits real-world complexity is often more valuable than a polished but unrealistic checklist.
Extremely FAST Caching Repository With Decorator Pattern in ASP.NET Core
Decorator-based caching can be elegant if the abstraction stays honest about where the complexity lives.
Code Coverage in .NET: % to confidence
Coverage is a useful signal, but the important part is whether tests actually increase confidence in behavior.