Moving to .NET

I l @ ve RuBoard

What is .NET? .NET is Microsoft's new programming architecture, and is an effort to unify development so that true language independence can be achieved. Further, .NET is designed for the disconnected Internet programming model, rather than the traditional two- tier client/server model that Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) and other earlier models supported. ASP.NET is just one piece of this new architecture, and of course is the focus of this book.

What does ASP.NET do for you, the developer? Well, let's look at a list of 15 cool new things about ASP.NET as compared to ASP 3.0. This comparison is not meant to be complete, because this is just an introduction to ASP.NET, but it should give you a good idea of why ASP.NET is far superior to its predecessor. So, in no particular order, here are some of the major improvements. Don't worry if there are some items listed that are unclear ”we will cover each point in more detail before the end of the chapter.

• Compiled code, not interpreted

• Separation of code from content

• No more "DLL hell"

• Side-by-side installation

• Real debugging

• Real programming languages

• Real error handling

• Applications can be deployed with XCOPY or FTP

• Applications can be administered with XML-structured configuration files

• Event-based programming model

• Improved object model

• More integrated functions, such as form validation and integral form handling

• Web Services

• Great performance enhancements from features like page caching

• Better tools ”Visual Studio .NET rules!

This chapter will provide a brief look at the background of ASP.NET and how it has evolved from ASP. I'll explain the key differences between ASP 3.0 and ASP.NET in an overview fashion, and issues such as migrating from "classic ASP" to ASP.NET will be covered in later chapters.

I l @ ve RuBoard