A key component of the .NET Framework, ASP.NET provides developers a suite of controls for rapidly developing Web applications.
Unlike ASP, where the developer was restricted to using a subset programming language such as VBScript, ASP.NET applications can be developed in any supported .NET programming language, including C#, Visual Basic .NET, and Visual J#.
ASP.NET provides a programming model known as Web Forms, which, similar to Windows Forms applications, utilizes controls (both intrinsic and user defined) and event handlers to develop Web applications.
The intrinsic sets of controls include a set of HTML controls, ASP.NET Web Server controls, and Validation controls. In a very simplified manner, Validation controls provide the much-needed logic for data validation using range validation, from simple comparison to regular expression-based validation.
Users can develop their own set of User controls and even add properties to them, giving ASP.NET true reusability.
Controls can be easily bound to databases and Web services.
ASP.NET provides a rich, XML-based configuration file (web.config) to specify application-level properties, authentication and authorization requirements, and other application-centric properties.
Using code behind, ASP.NET applications can be designed to truly separate the business logic and presentation tiers.
A number of toolsets are available for rapidly generating, building, and debugging Web applications using ASP.NET. Key to these are Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and ASP.NET Web Matrix.
