Home Archive Agents and .NET design choices – .NET News Daily Issue #397 (Feb 23, 2026)

Editor's note

I pulled together a pretty varied lineup this time: AI agents show up all over the place, but so do the fundamentals like error handling and data access. The ASP.NET 10 piece on IExceptionHandler and Problem Details is practical, and the EF Core vs Dapper comparison is the kind of decision guide people keep coming back to.

Agents and .NET design choices

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Today's Articles

Getting Started with Agents in VS Code

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7rFLL2kjr0A

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Demystifying C# Method Signatures: async, await, Tasks, and Tuples Explained

https://shadhujan.medium.com/demystifying-c-method-signatures-async-await-tasks-and-tuples-explained-7743ec5b3285?source=rss------dotnet-5

When you’re learning .NET / C#, one of the most confusing things is reading method declarations like:

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.NET AI Community Standup: Squad: AI agent teams for any project

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHZC-tl_ado

In this session, we’ll explore SQUAD for C# .NET Developers, based on the open-source project at https://github.com/bradygaster/squad. If you're building modern cloud-native apps and want to infuse th...

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How VS Code Builds with AI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee-obY-4rqk

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Performance Comparison: Blazor Server vs. WebForms Core Technology

https://mohammad-rabie.medium.com/performance-comparison-blazor-server-vs-webforms-core-technology-41582573a885?source=rss------csharp-5

In web development, managing state and updating the UI interactively has always been a key challenge. Two modern technologies addressing…

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Standardizing Global Errors: Using IExceptionHandler and Problem Details Services in ASP.NET 10

https://medium.com/@VondidoytheDeveloper/standardizing-global-errors-using-iexceptionhandler-and-problem-details-services-in-asp-net-10-c9344b1707d3?source=rss------csharp-5

In this article, we’ll explore using the modern approach to error handling in ASP.NET 10 by using the IExceptionHandler interface. We will…

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Custom Agents in Visual Studio: Built in and Build-Your-Own agents

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/visualstudio/custom-agents-in-visual-studio-built-in-and-build-your-own-agents/

Agents in Visual Studio now go beyond a single general-purpose assistant. We're shipping a set of curated preset agents that tap into deep IDE capabilities; debugging, profiling, testing alongside a f...

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Readonly vs Immutable vs Frozen in C#: differences and (a lot of) benchmarks

https://www.code4it.dev/blog/readonly-vs-immutable-vs-frozen/

The words ReadOnly, Immutable, Frozen seem similar but have distinct meanings in .NET. Here’s a detailed comparison of Readonly, Immutable, and Frozen collections in C#, with benchmarks and typical us...

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C# 13 & .NET 9 — Part 16: Blazor, Blazor Server vs. Blazor WebAssembly

https://medium.com/@ddemirugur/c-13-net-9-part-16-blazor-blazor-server-vs-blazor-webassembly-b50e04570633?source=rss------dotnet-5

This article is based on Chapter 16: Packaging and Deployment

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Codex vs Opus vs Gemini 3.1: .NET Developer Thing?

https://isitvritra101.medium.com/codex-vs-opus-vs-gemini-net-developer-real-test-2026-fed45c25bddc?source=rss------dotnet-5

“Codex is dogshit compared to Opus for complex tasks.”

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A Unified Agent Experience

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmpjvZ3xkx8

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Multicast Delegates and Events

https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMikAFBVV95cUxPM3ppRTg4YTdjZHZfc0lZb2EwVlFldnI2VVhRYk1ReHFVMmV6MlRSaUNkUmVBQlB3dWZ3cE1BcjZyX1hpZVBXalJ5MlJKTkVSZ2MzbG9wSXZTcmtjTks3b05KT0I3eEFqSXhHVF9uaW5LNzc4bnc5MFF3d0hSa0NET2VKZkRhTXZ6d3dTYUQyTTM?oc=5

Multicast Delegates and Events

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Most .NET Developers Are Still Coding Like It’s 2016.

https://medium.com/@ps848338/most-net-developers-are-still-coding-like-its-2016-7d487ae5b81d?source=rss------csharp-5

Let’s be honest.

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Comparing Entity Framework Core vs Dapper: When to Choose What

https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/article/comparing-entity-framework-core-vs-dapper-when-to-choose-what/

Explore the differences between Entity Framework Core and Dapper for .NET data access. Learn when to choose each ORM based on performance, productivity, and control.

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Multiplexed RBAC in .NET — Part 4 — Deterministic TRN Authorization Engine

https://medium.com/@m.marano2k14/multiplexed-rbac-in-net-part-4-deterministic-trn-authorization-engine-7605c934852a?source=rss------dotnet-5

Structural Enforcement via Proxy & Attribute-Driven Dynamic Registration (Class, Interface & Method)

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Extend Agents with MCP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g29UQjIAeI

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Value task vs Task in .NET: When and Why to Use Each

https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/article/value-task-vs-task-in-net-when-and-why-to-use-each/

Unlock .NET async performance! Learn when to use Task vs. ValueTask for optimal efficiency. Discover the key differences, performance impacts, and best practices for scalable applications.

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Where Vertical Slices Fit Inside the Modular Monolith Architecture

https://www.milanjovanovic.tech/blog/where-vertical-slices-fit-inside-the-modular-monolith-architecture

Modular Monolith tells you how to split the system into modules. But it says nothing about how to organize code inside each module. Vertical Slice Architecture fills that gap, and the combination is i...

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Bring your own model in VS Code

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBSVSxs16_I

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Jasen's take on today's picks

Getting Started with Agents in VS Code

Quick start on agents in VS Code; useful if you want to see the workflow before the buzzwords take over.

.NET AI Community Standup: Squad: AI agent teams for any project

SQUAD looks like a serious attempt at multi-agent coordination for .NET devs, not just another demo.

How VS Code Builds with AI

Visual Studio’s built-in agents are getting more capable, especially around debugging and profiling.

Standardizing Global Errors: Using IExceptionHandler and Problem Details Services in ASP.NET 10

Modern ASP.NET error handling with Problem Details is one of those upgrades that pays off immediately in real apps.

Custom Agents in Visual Studio: Built in and Build-Your-Own agents

Readonly, immutable, and frozen are easy to confuse; the benchmarks make the tradeoffs concrete.

Readonly vs Immutable vs Frozen in C#: differences and (a lot of) benchmarks

The EF Core vs Dapper comparison is a solid refresher for choosing productivity or control deliberately.

C# 13 & .NET 9 — Part 16: Blazor, Blazor Server vs. Blazor WebAssembly

Vertical slices inside a modular monolith is a very practical architecture conversation, not an abstract one.

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