Chain of Responsibility, Template Method, Reflection, and ASP.NET Core Web API
Weekly Recap: May 2026
This week: Four chain of responsibility design pattern articles -- complete guide, step-by-step implementation, decision guide, and best practices -- plus three template method pattern articles covering a real-world example, best practices, and a strategy pattern comparison. Five reflection-focused deep dives walk through expression trees as an alternative, UnsafeAccessor for accessing private members, Native AOT safety with DynamicallyAccessedMembers, reflection vs source generators in .NET 10, and how DI containers actually use reflection under the hood. Two ASP.NET Core pieces round it out -- the complete Web API guide and a focused look at routing with attribute routing, route templates, and constraints. Six new videos cover speaking up at work, helping a developer get their spark back, making safe changes in distributed systems, hackathons, meaningless meeting culture, and the realities of ADHD, anxiety, and depression in software engineering.
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Weekly Recap
Featured this week: Expression Trees as a Reflection Alternative in C#: When to Switch -- start here if you can only read one this week.
Your Ideas Keep Getting Shut Down - Principal Engineering Manager AMA
One of the things that makes me most uncomfortable as an engineering manager is the thought of individuals on teams losing their voice. Once people stop speaking up, it creates a culture that’s very difficult to work our way out of.
As with all livestreams, I’m looking forward to answering YOUR questions! So join me live and ask in the chat, or you can comment now, and I can try to get it answered while I stream.
Helping This Software Engineer Get Their Spark Back
From the ExperiencedDevs subreddit, this developer wanted some thoughts on helping another engineer get their spark back.
How To Safely Make Changes In Large Distributed Systems
Distributed systems are hard. Making changes in distributed systems is even harder.
The Right and Wrong Ways to Have Hackathons for Devs
Let’s talk about hackathons for software engineers! Is there a right and a wrong way?
Navigating Meaningless Meeting Culture as a Developer
From the ExperiencedDevs subreddit, this developer’s perspective on meaningless meeting culture.
ADHD, Anxiety, and Depression in Software Engineering
From the ExperiencedDevs subreddit, this conversation is all about things that might be under the surface for many developers.
Expression Trees as a Reflection Alternative in C#: When to Switch
Expression trees as a reflection alternative in C# -- learn to build compiled property accessors, method invokers, and factories in .NET 10.
Chain of Responsibility Design Pattern in C#: Complete Guide with Examples
Master the chain of responsibility design pattern in C# with practical examples showing handler chains, middleware pipelines, and real-world .NET implementations.
Template Method Pattern Best Practices in C#: Code Organization and Maintainability
Explore template method pattern best practices in C# including sealed methods, hook design, testing strategies, and maintainable inheritance hierarchies.
Making Reflection Native AOT Safe in .NET 10: DynamicallyAccessedMembers Guide
Learn how to make C# reflection compatible with Native AOT in .NET 10 using DynamicallyAccessedMembers, RequiresUnreferencedCode, and trim-safe patterns.
ASP.NET Core Routing: Attribute Routing, Route Templates, and Constraints
Learn how ASP.NET Core routing works in .NET 10 -- covers attribute routing, route templates, constraints, parameter binding, and URL generation for REST APIs.
Chain of Responsibility Pattern Best Practices in C#: Code Organization and Maintainability
Explore chain of responsibility pattern best practices in C# including handler design, chain construction, error handling, and testable pipeline architectures.
ASP.NET Core Web API in .NET: The Complete Guide
Master ASP.NET Core Web API in .NET 10 -- learn request pipelines, routing, controllers, JWT authentication, error handling, and deployment strategies.
Template Method Pattern Real-World Example in C#: Complete Implementation
Build a real-world template method pattern example in C# with a complete document processing pipeline showing practical inheritance-based workflow design.
UnsafeAccessor in C#: Access Private Members Without Reflection Overhead
Learn how UnsafeAccessor in C# (.NET 8+) gives you direct access to private fields, methods, and constructors -- avoids reflection lookup overhead on the hot path, AOT-friendly when the target type and member are statically known at compile time.
When to Use Chain of Responsibility Pattern in C#: Decision Guide with Examples
Discover when to use the chain of responsibility pattern in C# with decision criteria, practical scenarios, and examples showing where handler chains fit best.
Template Method vs Strategy Pattern in C#: Key Differences Explained
Compare the template method vs strategy pattern in C# with side-by-side code examples showing when inheritance beats composition and vice versa.
How Dependency Injection Containers Use Reflection Internally in C#
Discover how C# DI containers use reflection to resolve dependencies -- then build a simplified version yourself to understand the internals in .NET 10.
C# Reflection vs Source Generators in .NET 10: Which Should You Choose?
Compare C# reflection vs source generators in .NET 10 -- understand performance, AOT compatibility, maintainability trade-offs, and which to use for your use case.
How to Implement Chain of Responsibility Pattern in C#: Step-by-Step Guide
Learn how to implement the chain of responsibility pattern in C# with step-by-step examples covering handler chains, pipeline construction, and DI integration.
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