For those of us who have spent years, or even decades, maintaining and extending large, legacy .NET applications, the current AI boom presents a fascinating, yet daunting, challenge. The business sees the "magic" of AI and, naturally, wants to sprinkle it into our existing products. The request is often simple: "Can we add AI to do X?". But as architects and developers, we know it's never that simple. Bolting a modern, stateless, and often slow-to-respond Large Language Model (LLM) onto a battle-hardened, stateful ASP.NET Web Forms application is a classic case of architectural impedance mismatch. A direct API call from a code-behind file during a postback is a recipe for disaster. It will lead to hanging UI, terrible user experience, and a maintenance nightmare. So, how do we bridge the gap between our monolithic, reliable workhorses and the brave new world of generative AI? The answer isn't a rewrite; it's smart architecture. Here are a couple of patte...
Because a waste is a terrible thing to mind.