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Why ASP.NET? - A Management Overview

Microsoft introduced classic ASP (Active Server Pages) in 1996. Classic ASP script is an interpreted script and consists of unstructured code that is difficult to write, debug and maintain. The complexity of a classic ASP application increases dramatically as applications grow in size. This is due to the unpleasant mix of code, content and formatting. The resulting spaghetti code is difficult, if not impossible, to maintain. As a consequence, development and maintenance costs are high.

All this changed with ASP.NET. ASP.Net is Microsoft's latest Web development platform that provides the structure and services necessary to develop large and maintainable Web applications of any size. It improves development productivity with separation of application coding from the presentation. It has improved performance using compiled code. It improves reliability with the.Net Framework of common programming language library routines. Programming time and hence development costs are a fraction of that using ASP - there is no longer the cost of highly trained, multi-disciplined ASP programmers. The nightmare of debugging and maintaining ASP has been replaced by a much simpler paradigm. What was previously prohibitively expensive and complex can now be accomplished with relative ease.

ASP.Net provides server controls and allows coding of Web forms using strongly typed languages such Visual Basic.NET and C#. This enforces good coding practises and helps eliminate the use of unstructured code that litters a classic ASP application.

ASP.Net allows the creation of Websites that are consistent and attractive to the visitor, whilst being able to be modified for optimal Search Engine Rankings.

The ASP.Net Development Environment

ASP.NET is an object-oriented, event-driven development platform. Creating dynamic, high-performance Web applications has never been easier. ASP.Net has introduced many (some say too many!) enhancements and improvements over classical ASP that makes it a compelling platform to use for all website developers. It provides effective, scalable, and fast Web development with little coding.

Web Forms and controls provide a Rapid Application Development (RAD) platform for creating Web applications. The move to ASP.NET is easy (well, as easy as it can be) for the Visual Basic.Net Programmer - there is the same VB development environment and the same VB programming model.

ASP.NET server controls enable HTML pages to be built with far less code than with classic ASP. Displaying data, validating user input, and uploading files are all easy. ASP.NET pages work in all browsers - including Chrome, Netscape, Opera, Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Visual Studio.NET adds the productivity of Visual Basic-style development to the Web - or the Object-Oriented and Inheritance Programming techniques for the C# programmer. The programmer can visually design ASP.NET Web Forms using familiar Drag and Drop techniques, and enjoy code support including statement completion and colour-coding. Visual Studio.NET provides support for easy debugging and deployment of ASP.NET Web applications.

Summary of the Features of ASP.Net

Server controls make it simple to do HTML style declarative programming with little code.
There is support for multiple programming languages.
The programmer can leverage Visual Basic.Net or C# skills for coding the web.
The object oriented model separates application logic code from the HTML pages, reducing maintenance headaches.
Development is simpler and easier to maintain with an event-driven, server-side programming model.
The ASP.NET output caching improves the performance and thus the scalability of an application.
Compiled code provides increased performance - ASP.Net is highly scalable.
ASP.NET automatically remembers the state of a page. This eliminates the problem of writing to hidden fields.
ASP.NET dramatically reduces the amount of code required to build large applications.
Programmer retraining has been minimised. The Event-based programming model is well-known to Visual Basic.Net and C# programmers.
ASP.NET automatically detects and recovers from errors like deadlocks and memory leaks to ensure applications are always available to users.
Master pages results in a consistent layout for all the Website pages.
There is fast development with features like IntelliSense and tag completion.
Deployment is easy. Just copy the web pages to the server. There is no need to register any components.

The bad news about ASP.Net

There is still the odd bug or two.
The developers are concentrating on new and esoteric features that are of little interest to the Visual Basic programmer.
The product feature range is just too vast.
There is a never-ending learning curve.
Documentation has improved, but due to all the improvements, it is hard to work out what is valid, and what is obsolete.

No one has complained about a lack of features, for a long time!

Companies using ASP.Net

The scalability of ASP.Net allows it to be used for large companies. These include Dell, Match.com, Monster.com, Costco.com, NHS Choices, HSN.com, London Stock Exchange, newegg.com, myspace and Lego.