Benefits of ASP.NET

[dw]

Hello, all. We are interested in moving to ASP.NET from ASP, and wanted a
few questions answered for those in our department somewhat uneasy about new
technologies -- one particularly important one having to do with security;
we're keenly interested in building secure applications in the face of the
security issues discovered almost daily. Here are the questions,

· What is .NET?

· Is performance any better than ASP (and, to a lesser extent, JSP,
PHP, CFML)?

· Is it more or less secure than ASP?

· Does it hog recourses any more than ASP?

· Where does ASP stand? Is it fading away?

- Is .NET a rapid-application development enviornment/technology?

Is there a Web site that can answer these, and other, questions? Thank you
much for your time. Sorry if this wasn't posted to the right newsgroup.

 

[Scott M.]

Hello, all. We are interested in moving to ASP.NET from ASP, and wanted a
few questions answered for those in our department somewhat uneasy about new
technologies -- one particularly important one having to do with security;
we're keenly interested in building secure applications in the face of the
security issues discovered almost daily. Here are the questions,

· What is .NET?

LOL! Well, that's a good first question. The .NET Framework is a platform
for Windows based application development that encompasses client based
applications, component development and web based applications (both server
side programmed web pages - .aspx and XML Web Services).

The .NET Framework contains several language compilers so that you have a
choice as to what development language to use (VB .NET, C#, JScript .NET,
etc.)

The .NET Framework contains a HUGE library of base classes (over 10,000) so
that very rich functionality doesn't have to be built from scratch and
Windows API calls are very minimal.

At the heart of the .NET Framework is something called the Common Language
Runtime (CLR) which manages the whole thing. The CLR manages memory,
allocation of system resources and security to the .NET application. In the
past, the developer would have to build this into thier app, in .NET the CLR
manages these things for you.

There is soooo much more to be said about .NET, but you should definately
check out http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/

· Is performance any better than ASP (and, to a lesser extent, JSP,
PHP, CFML)?

I know that you are looking for comparisons between ASP .NET and "Classic
ASP", but they are 2 different technologies. Besides the fact that they
both are for writing server based code for web pages, they don't have that
much else in common.

I can't think of ANYTHING the "Classic ASP" does that ASP .NET doesn't do
better. Performance is leaps and bound better because you aren't using a
scripting language (VBScript) anymore, you are using on of the fully
compiled .NET programming languages. A compiled language will always
perform better than an interpreted language.

ASP .NET applications run inside of "Application Domains", which run inside
of a process for better use of available memory by the web server. This
means that more than one ASP .NET application can run in one process, but if
one were to go down, it wouldn't take the whole process with it. In
"Classic ASP" each application got its own process (which takes a certain
minimal amount of overhead) even if it didn't need to.

ASP .NET has a fantastic caching ability so that pages don't have to
re-process if their output wouldn't change frequently.

· Is it more or less secure than ASP?

MUCH MORE SECURE

· Does it hog recourses any more than ASP?
NO


· Where does ASP stand? Is it fading away?

As far as MS is concerned, it is now a legacy programming architecture. It
is, however, still supported by IIS and ASP .NET applications can run
side-by-side with Classic ASP.

- Is .NET a rapid-application development enviornment/technology?

Using Visual Studio .NET, you will develop web pages and web services and
feel like you are developing a traditional Windows application.

Is there a Web site that can answer these, and other, questions? Thank you
much for your time. Sorry if this wasn't posted to the right newsgroup.

http://msdn.microsoft.com
http://gotdotnet.com
http://asp.net

 

[AFN]

Definitely do the transition. there is only 1 downside: it is easier to
have a graphics person design HTML and quickly integrate it into the ASP
page than it is with ASPX pages because of the simplicity of ASP pages.
Some will disagree because of "code behind", where code is separated into a
separate file, but everyone I know says otherwise in practice because of
things called labels, literals, likely separation into more user control
chunks, etc.

Still, you will save a ton of time doing .NET pages in the future, and even
the next version of ASP.NET due out next year will let you do something in 1
hour that takes 1 day in classic ASP. Right now, it is often a 2-4 hours
versus 1hour ratio with current ASP.NET. And if you work with databases,
the difference is huge!

 

[Scott M.]

Definitely do the transition. there is only 1 downside: it is easier to
have a graphics person design HTML and quickly integrate it into the ASP
page than it is with ASPX pages because of the simplicity of ASP pages.

IMHO labels are liberating! No more sticking response.write statements
everywhere. Just drop a label where you need it and write the code in the
code-behind to populate it.

 

[dw]

Thank you Scott M. and AFN for your generous thoughts. You don't need to
sell me, I'm already a believer in .NET! I will take
the info you've provided and share it with my department. However, I have
two more questions:
- If you had to give one overwhelming reason why ASP.NET is the best
server-side technology, what would it be?
- How difficult/easy is it for someone who programmed in ASP/VBScript to
move to ASP.NET/VB.NET?
- Is there a Flash/PowerPoint presentation anywhere that quickly and
concisely presents the benefits of ASP.NET? This would come in handy in a
group presentation.
Thanks again for the invaluable info

 

[Scott M.]

- If you had to give one overwhelming reason why ASP.NET is the best

server-side technology, what would it be?

Here are 3:
Choice of development language (C#, J#, VB .NET and more being added)
Very rich development environment (Visual Studio .NET) that gives a powerful
interface with IntelliSense and debugging (try that in NotePad!)
Can co-exist side-by-side with "Classic ASP"

- How difficult/easy is it for someone who programmed in ASP/VBScript to
move to ASP.NET/VB.NET?

The easiest way to make the transition to ASP .NET and VB .NET from
"Classic ASP" & VB 6.0 is to NOT try to COMPARE them. That is where you
will get into trouble. ASP .NET is nothing like "Classic ASP" and while
some features of the VB .NET language look similar to VB 6.0, VB .NET is a
completely re-vamped language that runs on a totally different engine.
Sure, some things haven't changed, you still write "IF - THEN" and Looping
statements as you did in VB 6.0, but how they operate under the hood is
somewhat different now. You should expect that learning VB .NET and ASP
..NET will not be a small learning curve.

- Is there a Flash/PowerPoint presentation anywhere that quickly and
concisely presents the benefits of ASP.NET? This would come in handy in a
group presentation.

I'm sure there is but I don't know of one.

Thanks again for the invaluable info

Your welcome! Good luck!

 

[dw]

Thanks again, Scott M.

Here are 3:
Choice of development language (C#, J#, VB .NET and more being added)
Very rich development environment (Visual Studio .NET) that gives a powerful
interface with IntelliSense and debugging (try that in NotePad!)
Can co-exist side-by-side with "Classic ASP"

ASP/VBScript

The easiest way to make the transition to ASP .NET and VB .NET from
"Classic ASP" & VB 6.0 is to NOT try to COMPARE them. That is where you
will get into trouble. ASP .NET is nothing like "Classic ASP" and while
some features of the VB .NET language look similar to VB 6.0, VB .NET is a
completely re-vamped language that runs on a totally different engine.
Sure, some things haven't changed, you still write "IF - THEN" and Looping
statements as you did in VB 6.0, but how they operate under the hood is
somewhat different now. You should expect that learning VB .NET and ASP
.NET will not be a small learning curve.


I'm sure there is but I don't know of one.



Your welcome! Good luck!