What is ASP.net

[aaj]

Hi all

can I ask a genuine question (by that I mean I'm not trolling)

We are a small company and for a few years we have been building internal
web apps in ASP connecting to databases etc.

We see that just about everyone is moving to .net, but I'm curious about
practicle reasons for doing this.

I have read some marketing stuff and seen references better scalability, XML
and other things, but what I am trying to find out is what the
differences/improvements a user would see.

What would be great is if someone could point to a web site built in .NET
that does things that wern't possible in ASP/JAVA/Javascript etc.

many thanks

Andy

[aaj]

PS

I've just found a thread below on a similar vain, so I'll read that
first...sorry for being lazy 8-)
"aaj" <aa*@aaj.com> wrote in message
news:41***********************@news.easynet.co.uk. ..

Hi all

can I ask a genuine question (by that I mean I'm not trolling)

We are a small company and for a few years we have been building internal
web apps in ASP connecting to databases etc.

We see that just about everyone is moving to .net, but I'm curious about
practicle reasons for doing this.

I have read some marketing stuff and seen references better scalability,
XML and other things, but what I am trying to find out is what the
differences/improvements a user would see.

What would be great is if someone could point to a web site built in .NET
that does things that wern't possible in ASP/JAVA/Javascript etc.

many thanks

Andy

[SparvHok]

Hi There,

The easy answer would be, there is no spectacular reason to go .NET.

But in the future you should definately look into it. Especially when
developing new projects. Since the .NET revolution in the Microsoft
world will help you become more organized (Objectoriented dev, more
strict typing than ASP) and use more already working
webcontrols (DataGrid, DataList, Repeater). It is said to help you
accomplish more in less time. I have some objections on that, but it
depends on who youre asking.

You also have the new ADO.NET which makes it easier/simpler creating
data components, and binding them through datasets and managers to
other webcontrols.

To the enduser, there is no real difference. The result is still a
text-based HTML page.

To summarize, if you have the time and money, you should consider doing
it in .NET rather than ASP. Same thing if you consider upgrading
projects from ASP to Asp.NET.

aaj wrote:

Hi all

can I ask a genuine question (by that I mean I'm not trolling)

We are a small company and for a few years we have been building internal
web apps in ASP connecting to databases etc.

We see that just about everyone is moving to .net, but I'm curious about
practicle reasons for doing this.

I have read some marketing stuff and seen references better scalability, XML
and other things, but what I am trying to find out is what the
differences/improvements a user would see.

What would be great is if someone could point to a web site built in .NET
that does things that wern't possible in ASP/JAVA/Javascript etc.

many thanks

Andy

--

+================================================= =====================+
| SparrowHawk The Magician |
| |
| |
| |
| |
+================================================= =====================+
| e-mail: sparvhok[NOSPAM]hotmail.com |
+================================================= =====================+
To send me an email, replace the [NOSPAM] tag with @ sign.

[Kevin Spencer]

> I have read some marketing stuff and seen references better scalability,
XML

and other things, but what I am trying to find out is what the
differences/improvements a user would see.
A user would see no difference. HTML is HTML, and on the client side, that's
what both ASP and ASP.Net produce.

There are so many differences between ASP and ASP.Net that it would take
several pages to describe all of them. ASP is procedural. ASP.Net is
Object-Oriented. ASP is interpreted scripting. ASP.Net is compiled
programming. ASP can do very little. ASP.Net can do very much. ASP can be
extended using COM. ASP.Net uses .Net assemblies instead, and needs no
extension, as there is nothing you can't do with it. When using COM and
replacing components, it is necessary to reboot the web server after
installing COM DLLs and registering them in the System registry. .Net DLLs
do not require any reboot on the server, and can be installed by simply
copying files.

So much for scratching the surface. I could go on, but I have work to do.

--
HTH,
Kevin Spencer
..Net Developer
Microsoft MVP
Neither a follower
nor a lender be.
"aaj" <aa*@aaj.com> wrote in message
news:41***********************@news.easynet.co.uk. .. Hi all

can I ask a genuine question (by that I mean I'm not trolling)

We are a small company and for a few years we have been building internal
web apps in ASP connecting to databases etc.

We see that just about everyone is moving to .net, but I'm curious about
practicle reasons for doing this.

I have read some marketing stuff and seen references better scalability, XML and other things, but what I am trying to find out is what the
differences/improvements a user would see.

What would be great is if someone could point to a web site built in .NET
that does things that wern't possible in ASP/JAVA/Javascript etc.

many thanks

Andy

[Michael Geist]

Hi Andy,

I am a developer for a company (mid-sized in the US, large world-wide) and
my full time job is building internal web apps. Besides performance, ease
and speed of development, one of ourmajor motivations for moving to .NET from
ASP/JAVA/Javascript/COM has been integration with other MS apps (Sharepoint,
CMS Server, Office, etc). Everytime we turn around, we're told or we read,
'Well if you want to (whatever) with (this application), it has to be in
..NET.'

Michael Geist
MCSD

"aaj" wrote:

Hi all

can I ask a genuine question (by that I mean I'm not trolling)

We are a small company and for a few years we have been building internal
web apps in ASP connecting to databases etc.

We see that just about everyone is moving to .net, but I'm curious about
practicle reasons for doing this.

I have read some marketing stuff and seen references better scalability, XML
and other things, but what I am trying to find out is what the
differences/improvements a user would see.

What would be great is if someone could point to a web site built in .NET
that does things that wern't possible in ASP/JAVA/Javascript etc.

many thanks

Andy

[David Breyer]

> We see that just about everyone is moving to .net, but I'm curious

about practicle reasons for doing this.
There are too many to really mention. But here is some of my thoughts.
Take them for what you will.

Development time can be cut tremendously. I admit, when I first
switched it was a royal pain, and the project took longer than if I
could have just developed it with classic ASP. But in the long run
it's a) easier to find developers who know .NET or are willing to
program .NET over classic VB/ASP, and b) .NET applications have a far
shorter development time.

This may seem trivial, but I assure you it's not. One of the main
reasons I enjoy .NET so much over classic ASP, is the ease of testing
and deploying my applications. No registering DLLs. No unloading DLLs
from memory just so you can recompile and retest. This make it easier
to build multi-tier applications.
What would be great is if someone could point to a web site built in
.NET
that does things that wern't possible in ASP/JAVA/Javascript etc.

One of the things you can do in ASP.NET that you can't do in ASP or
Java is develop applications without a lot of extra coding. Say you
want to validation on your web form. A required field here, a
telephone number field there, etc. Instead of writing javascript for
each field, you instead just drop a validation control on the page and
specify "FieldA" is required. Drop on another validation control and
say, "FieldB" should be a valid email address. There are many examples
to this effect.

Then there is the development tool. Visual Studio.NET 2003 is far
better IDE than classic Visual Studio ever was, especially with regards
to building web forms. The code-behind allows seperation of interface
(HTML) and code (VB.NET), is simply good design.

The best part is you can start developing in .NET without a significant
upgrade to your company's technology. Other than training the
developers, and purchasing a new IDE (or using some of the free ones),
just install the .NET framework on your web server and you're ready to
go.

After working with .NET for over 3 years I would never (ever) go back
to classic ASP.

Couple of articles that compare ASP and ASP.NET
http://www.asp101.com/articles/chris...et/default.asp
http://www.w3schools.com/aspnet/aspnet_vsasp.asp

To get your started
http://www.dotnetjunkies.com/quickstart/aspplus/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/att...s/default.aspx
http://www.asp.net/Default.aspx?tabindex=0&tabid=1
http://www.intranetjournal.com/artic...01_31_01a.html
http://msdn.microsoft.com/academic/t...rt_vcsharp.asp

Alternative .NET IDEs (For serious coding I recommend VS.NET 2003)
http://www.sys-con.com/webservices/a...int.cfm?id=360 <-- For die
hard techies
http://www.asp.net/webmatrix/default...dex=4&tabId=46 <-- For
the beginner
http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SD/ <-- Open Source IDE