1.4 Why and When Would I Use ASP.NET?

You should use ASP.NET for any new projects you are about to start for the following reasons:

• Reduced development time

• Increased performance

• Increased application stability

• Increased scalability

• New ASP.NET features (see the discussion later in this chapter)

Some of these benefits, such as reduction in development time, assume familiarity with the .NET development platform. If you are starting your first ASP.NET development project, you should allow some time for getting up to speed on the new platform. Subsequent projects should see reduced development time over classic ASP, as developers become more familiar with the platform.

In addition to these factors, ASP.NET, like ASP, is available for free. The only costs associated with ASP.NET development are the costs of the operating system on which you wish to run your application (Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003) and the cost of the development environment you choose to use. Of course, as with classic ASP, you can use free or inexpensive text editors to create your applications. Given that the .NET Framework is a free add-on to Windows (and is integrated with the Windows Server 2003 line), it is possible to create ASP.NET applications without spending a penny beyond the cost of the operating system and hardware on which it will run. Integrated development environments, such as Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003, are also available at an additional cost and greatly simplify ASP .NET development.