One of the most popular programming language on the market is getting even better. With every iteration of C# we get more and more features that are meant to make our lives as developers a lot easier. 

var integerArray = new int[3];
var lastItem = integerArray[integerArray.Length - 1];

var integerList = integerArray.ToList();
integerList.Last();

var secondToLast = integerArray[integerArray.Length - 2];

var lastItem = integerArray[^1];

var words = new string[]
{
                // index from start    index from end
    "The",      // 0                   ^9
    "quick",    // 1                   ^8
    "brown",    // 2                   ^7
    "fox",      // 3                   ^6
    "jumped",   // 4                   ^5
    "over",     // 5                   ^4
    "the",      // 6                   ^3
    "lazy",     // 7                   ^2
    "dog"       // 8                   ^1
};              // 9 (or words.Length) ^0

Console.WriteLine($"The last word is {words[words.Length - 1]}");

var index = new Index(value: 1, fromEnd: true);
Index indexStruct = ^1;
var indexShortHand = ^1;

int[] a = { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 };
Console.WriteLine(a[a.Length – 2]); // will write 8 on console.
Console.WriteLine(a[^2]); // will write 8 on console.

Index i5 = 5;
Console.WriteLine(a[i5]);        //will write 5 on console.

Index i2fromEnd = ^2;
Console.WriteLine(a[i2fromEnd]); // will write 8 on console.

var numbers = Enumerable.Range(1, 10).ToArray();

var (start, end) = (1, 7); 
var length = end - start; 

// Using LINQ 
var subset1 = numbers.Skip(start).Take(length);
 
// Or using Array.Copy 
var subset2 = new int[length];
Array.Copy(numbers, start, subset2, 0, length);

var myArray = new string[] { "Item1", "Item2", "Item3", "Item4", "Item5" };

 var fromIndexToX = myArray[1..3]; // = [Item2, Item3]

var fromIndexToXFromTheEnd = myArray[1..^1]; // = [ "Item2", "Item3", "Item4" ]

var fromAnIndexToTheEnd = myArray[1..]; // = [ "Item2", "Item3", "Item4", "Item5" ]

 var fromTheStartToAnIndex = myArray[..3]; // = [ "Item1", "Item2", "Item3" ]

 var entireRange = myArray[..]; // = [ "Item1", "Item2", "Item3", "Item4", "Item5" ]

var myArray = new string[] { "Item1", "Item2", "Item3", "Item4", "Item5" };
for (int i = 1; i <= 3; i++)
{
  Console.WriteLine(myArray[i]);
}

foreach (var item in myArray[1..4]) // = [ "Item2", "Item3", "Item4" ]
{
  Console.WriteLine(item);
}

using System;
using System.Linq;

namespace ConsoleApp
{
    class Program
    {
        private static readonly int[] _numbers = Enumerable.Range(1, 10).ToArray();

        static void Main()
        {
            var skip2CharactersAndTake2Characters = _numbers[2..4]; // صرفنظر کردن از دو عنصر اول و سپس انتخاب دو عنصر
            var skipFirstAndLastCharacter = _numbers[1..^1]; // صرفنظر کردن از دو عنصر اول و آخر
            var last3Characters = _numbers[^3..]; // انتخاب بازه‌ای شامل سه عنصر آخر
            var first4Characters = _numbers[0..4]; // دریافت بازه‌ای از 4 عنصر اول
            var rangeStartFrom2 = _numbers[2..]; // دریافت بازه‌ای شروع شده از المان دوم تا آخر
            var skipLast3Characters = _numbers[..^3]; // صرفنظر کردن از سه المان آخر
            var rangeAll = _numbers[..]; // انتخاب کل بازه
        }
    }
}

var range = new Range(1, 4);
Range rangeStruct = 1..4;
var rangeShortHand = 1..4;

using System;
using System.Linq;

namespace ConsoleApp
{
    class Program
    {
        private static readonly int[] _numbers = Enumerable.Range(1, 10).ToArray();
        static void Print(Range range) => Console.WriteLine($"{range} => {string.Join(", ", _numbers[range])}");

        static void Main()
        {
            Print(1..3); // 1..3 => 2, 3
            Print(..3);      // 0..3 => 1, 2, 3
            Print(3..);      // 3..^0 => 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
            Print(1..^1);    // 1..^1 => 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
            Print(^2..^1);   // ^2..^1 => 9
        }
    }
}

Console.WriteLine("123456789"[1..4]); // Would output 234

var helloWorldStr = "Hello, World!";

var hello = helloWorldStr[..5];
Console.WriteLine(hello); // Output: Hello

var world = helloWorldStr[7..];
Console.WriteLine(world); // Output: World!

var world2 = helloWorldStr[^6..]; // Take the last 6 characters
Console.WriteLine(world); // Output: World!

var arr = (new[] { 1, 4, 8, 11, 19, 31 }).AsSpan();
var range = arr[2..5];

ref int elt1 = ref range[1];
elt1 = -1;

int copiedElement = range[2];
copiedElement = -2;

Console.WriteLine($"range[1]: {range[1]}, range[2]: {range[2]}"); // output: range[1]: -1, range[2]: 19
Console.WriteLine($"arr[3]: {arr[3]}, arr[4]: {arr[4]}"); // output: arr[3]: -1, arr[4]: 19

Redis, the popular in-memory data store, is switching away from the open source three-clause BSD license. Instead, in a move that is clearly aimed to prevent the large cloud providers from offering free alternatives to Redis’ own hosted services, Redis will now be dual-licensed under the Redis Source Available License (RSALv2) and Server Side Public License (SSPLv1). Under this new license, cloud service providers hosting Redis will need to enter into a commercial agreement with Redis. The first company to do so is Microsoft.

As we come to towards the end of 2023, we are excited to announce the general availability of PowerShell 7.4! This release is built on .NET 8 and similarly, is our latest Long Term Support (LTS) release supported for 3 years. 

ASP.NET Community Standup - Blazor United in .NET 8
The Blazor team shares early thoughts on Blazor United in .NET 8, an effort to create a single unified model for all your web UI scenarios that combines the best of Razor Pages, Blazor Server, and Blazor WebAssembly.
 

Here are some of the reasons why nullable reference types are less than ideal:

• Invoking a member on a null value will issue a System.NullReferenceException exception, and every invocation that results in a System.NullReferenceException in production code is a bug. Unfortunately, however, with nullable reference types we “fall in” to doing the wrong thing rather than the right thing. The “fall in” action is to invoke a reference type without checking for null.
• There’s an inconsistency between reference types and value types (following the introduction of Nullable<T>) in that value types are nullable when decorated with  “?” (for example, int? number); otherwise, they default to non-nullable. In contrast, reference types are nullable by default. This is “normal” to those of us who have been programming in C# for a long time, but if we could do it all over, we’d want the default for reference types to be non-nullable and the addition of a “?” to be an explicit way to allow nulls.
• It’s not possible to run static flow analysis to check all paths regarding whether a value will be null before dereferencing it, or not. Consider, for example, if there were unmanaged code invocations, multi-threading, or null assignment/­replacement based on runtime conditions. (Not to mention whether analysis would include checking of all library APIs that are invoked.)
• There’s no reasonable syntax to indicate that a reference type value of null is invalid for a particular declaration.
• There’s no way to decorate parameters to not allow null. 

using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;

namespace Models;

public record OrderPlace
{
    public Address BillingAddress { get; set; } = new();
    public Address ShippingAddress { get; set; } = new();
}

public class Address
{
    [Required] public string Name { get; set; } = default!;
    public string? AddressLine1 { get; set; }
    public string? AddressLine2 { get; set; }
    public string? City { get; set; }
    [Required] public string PostCode { get; set; } = default!;
}

@inherits Editor<Models.Address>

<div>
    <label>Name</label>
    <InputText @bind-Value="Value.Name"/>
</div>
<div>
    <label>Address 1</label>
    <InputText @bind-Value="Value.AddressLine1"/>
</div>
<div>
    <label>Address 2</label>
    <InputText @bind-Value="Value.AddressLine2"/>
</div>
<div>
    <label>City</label>
    <InputText @bind-Value="Value.City"/>
</div>
<div>
    <label>Post Code</label>
    <InputText @bind-Value="Value.PostCode"/>
</div>

@page "/checkout"

@using Models
@if (!_submitted && PlaceModel != null)
{
    <EditForm Model="PlaceModel" method="post" OnValidSubmit="SubmitOrder" FormName="checkout">
        <DataAnnotationsValidator/>

        <h4>Bill To:</h4>
        <AddressEntry @bind-Value="PlaceModel.BillingAddress"/>

        <h4>Ship To:</h4>
        <AddressEntry @bind-Value="PlaceModel.ShippingAddress"/>

        <button type="submit">Submit</button>
        <ValidationSummary/>
    </EditForm>
}

@if (_submitted && PlaceModel != null)
{
    <div>
        <h2>Order Summary</h2>

        <h3>Shipping To:</h3>
        <dl>
            <dt>Name</dt>
            <dd>@PlaceModel.BillingAddress.Name</dd>
            <dt>Address 1</dt>
            <dd>@PlaceModel.BillingAddress.AddressLine1</dd>
            <dt>Address 2</dt>
            <dd>@PlaceModel.BillingAddress.AddressLine2</dd>
            <dt>City</dt>
            <dd>@PlaceModel.BillingAddress.City</dd>
            <dt>Post Code</dt>
            <dd>@PlaceModel.BillingAddress.PostCode</dd>
        </dl>
    </div>
}

@code {
    bool _submitted;

    [SupplyParameterFromForm]
    public OrderPlace? PlaceModel { get; set; }

    protected override void OnInitialized()
    {
        PlaceModel ??= GetOrderPlace();
    }

    private void SubmitOrder()
    {
        _submitted = true;
    }

    private static OrderPlace GetOrderPlace() =>
        new()
        {
            BillingAddress = new Address
                             {
                                 PostCode = "12345",
                                 Name = "Test 1",
                             },
            ShippingAddress = new Address
                              {
                                  PostCode = "67890",
                                  Name = "Test 2",
                              },
        };

}

<form method="post">
   <input type="hidden" name="_handler" value="checkout" />
   <input type="hidden" name="__RequestVerificationToken" value="CfDxxx" />
.
.
.
   <button type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>

<EditForm Model="PlaceModel" method="post" OnValidSubmit="SubmitOrder" FormName="checkout">

[SupplyParameterFromForm]
public OrderPlace? PlaceModel { get; set; }

@page "/checkout"

<FormMappingScope Name="store-checkout">
    <CheckoutForm />
</FormMappingScope>

<form method="post">
   <input type="hidden" name="_handler" value="[store-checkout]checkout" />
   <input type="hidden" name="__RequestVerificationToken" value="CfDxxxxx" />
.
.
.
   <button type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>

<form method="post" @onsubmit="SaveData" @formname="MyFormName">
    <AntiforgeryToken />

    <InputText @bind-Value="Name" />

    <button>Submit</button>
</form>

@page "/"

<form method="GET">
    <input type="text" name="q"/>
    <button type="submit">Search</button>
</form>


@code {
    [SupplyParameterFromQuery(Name="q")]
    public string SearchTerm { get; set; }
    
    protected override async Task OnInitializedAsync()
    {
       // do something with the search term
    }
}

<button class="nav-link border-0" @onclick="BeginSignOut">Log out</button>

<EditForm Context="ctx" FormName="LogoutForm" method="post" Model="@Foo" OnValidSubmit="BeginSignOut">
     <button type="submit" class="nav-link border-0">Log out</button>
</EditForm>

@code{
    [SupplyParameterFromForm(Name = "LogoutForm")]
    public string? Foo {  get; set; }

    protected override void OnInitialized() => Foo = "";

    async Task BeginSignOut()
    {
        // TODO: SignOutAsync();
        // TODO: NavigateTo("/authentication/logout");
    }
}

<EditForm Model="PlaceModel" method="post" OnValidSubmit="SubmitOrder" FormName="checkout" Enhance>

Visual Studio Community 2017 RC is a free, fully featured, and extensible IDE for individual developers, open source projects, education and academic research. You can create applications for Android, iOS, Windows and the web. Integrated Azure tools make it e