Apparently, ordinary users who use computers exclusively for everyday needs or in the entertainment industry are unlikely to encounter a concept like ASP.NET. But web developers of all levels of training know this platform quite well, although some of them believe that it, if I may say so, is somewhat outdated. Nevertheless, it is worth making a short excursion into the history of the creation and development of ASP.NET technology. What is it, many ordinary users will understand after reading the below proposed material. At the same time, we try to make a start from the simplest terms, without really going into the mechanisms of functioning of this tool, so that everyone can figure out what is actually being discussed.
ASP.NET: what is it?
And for starters, let's dwell on the toolkit itself. In general, it is believed that ASP.NET is a powerful tool for quickly creating web applications, which is included in almost all currently known versions of the Microsoft .NET Framework.
The toolkit itself contains specialized tools in the form of web services, software infrastructure and programming models.
Many believe that the described technology is a kind of successor to ASP. There is certainly a similarity in something, and that is why, as is believed, many programmers can easily switch from an outdated platform to using a newer one. However, in reality, the differences between the two environments are more significant, which is especially pronounced in the organization of the internal structure of the development and security environment. Despite the seemingly seemingly modern approaches to creating web pages and applications that are embedded in this platform, many programmers treat it with obvious distrust, preferring PHP tools or something like that. Some reviews suggest that even the improved ASP.NET Core development environment does not help. Is this so, and then try to find out.
What is ASP.NET used for in practice?
But these were all common phrases. The average user needs to know what practical sense is in using such tools. In the simplest case, ASP.NET for professionals is a pretty good tool for quickly creating dynamic web pages that are significantly different from static (ASP) ones. Sometimes web services included in the content of HTML pages can also be created quite simply based on ASP.NET tools.
With all this, you need to clearly understand that all this is very much interconnected with the Microsoft platform. NET Framework and runs exclusively in an executable environment (CLR Environment) based on compiled languages. To make it clearer, let's try to see what static and dynamic pages are, and we will also pay special attention to security issues.
The main differences between dynamic web pages and static
So, speaking of what this is, ASP.NET can be described as an expanded set of tools, modules and forms that allows you to very quickly create server-side web applications that could carry out dynamic interaction between the server itself, on which the page or service is located, and the browser from which the user accesses the Internet. But what is the difference between dynamic and static pages? A static page written in HTML initially contains only those elements that were specified directly in its code, that is, does not change over time. But what if you needed to develop a page or application that, for example, displays the daily exchange rate?
If you use a static page created "yesterday", today it will already be obsolete. But on the dynamic page, the course counter will just change. Naturally, this is only the simplest example, since the technology is actually much more complicated. In addition, if you have already noticed, when creating pages and services of this type, it can be noted that in a sense they are self-updating, due to the presence of built-in modules that monitor the change of a parameter.
History of creation
The first mention of ASP.NET dates back to 1997, when Microsoft implemented the first version of the IIS server, which concerned research on the possibility of a kind of separation of content from design in order to write, so to speak, "clean" code. Initially, the project was called XSP, but what the letter “X” in abbreviation meant for many is still a mystery. But here you need to understand that the technology itself was based at that time on the common Java programming environment, patented by Sun Microsystems, so it is not surprising that the platform itself was written in this language. but with the release of the common language runtime (CLR) and the .NET framework, the original principles began to improve, which ultimately led to the emergence of ASP.NET tools, which, despite the faces, are used by many modern programmers, no matter what they say platform obsolescence.
Principles of use and safety
As for the main components of this platform, it allows you to write “clean” codes in any programming language that is part of the .NET framework (for example, C #, J #, Script .NET, VB .NET, etc.). At the same time, the implementation of the executable code in the process of forming the page is partially entrusted to the so-called abstract Web Forms programming model. In addition, when using IIS authentication in ASP.NET, the security of server-client interaction based on the HTTP protocol is significantly increased.
Using the Membership API architecture, you can even manage user data from other sources such as SQL Server or Active Directory. Authentication itself is performed either through special forms, or directly through Windows IIS.
Benefits over ASP
In terms of superiority over its predecessor, this platform really has a number of undeniable advantages. For example, the execution of compiled code is accelerated, and all errors are corrected even at the stage of initial development, error handling in the finished program has been improved, the rapid development of web applications has become possible through the use of many distinguishable user templates, class libraries and controls, it has become possible to write source code in any language that supports .NET, etc. In addition, it can be separately noted that it has now become possible to cache the page in whole or in part to increase the pr performance and speed of its loading in browsers, use master-pages and extensible event models, controls and request processing, as well as apply built-in AJAX support.
ASP.NET Core
This branch in the development of the main platform, in essence, retained the same principles that were laid down in ASP.NET. What is this, in terms of improvements?
Only that Core is an almost complete analogue of ASP.NET, but with open source code and is based on the MVC pattern. In addition, the platform itself has become more unified in relation to other applications, the need for tight binding to System.Web.DLL and IIS has disappeared, and it has its own built-in tools for providing dependency injection. But unification made it possible to optimize the use of the Main method and launch the application web part.
Relationship between ASP.NET and Framework
As mentioned above, ASP.NET has a fairly strict binding to the main framework, which was first noticed when the platform version 1.0 was released. The framework itself acts as a unique means of standardizing call handling. In turn, the CLR runtime makes it possible to use a single set of services, regardless of the programming language used.
Some installation nuances
As for installing the platform and accelerating the development of .NET-based web applications, most experts recommend installing ASP.NET version 2.0 for initial familiarization. This modification can be used in almost all desktop and server versions of Windows with associated service packs, starting with Windows 2000. But it is advisable to place the finished pages themselves exclusively on Windows Server.
Can I do without ASP.NET?
It is believed that the installation of ASP.NET is not necessary when using Visual Studio .NET 2005 release and above.
This kit has a special component, Visual Web Developer Express Edition, for which it is enough to have only the main .NET framework. System requirements look very modest (600 MHz CPU 128 MB RAM), not to mention the fact that the installation of all components, including documentation, will require about 1.3 GB of free disk space, but during the installation process VWD will independently download from the Internet about 120 Mb.
No less often you can see recommendations for choosing MS WebMatrix - a program that combines both a web server and an HTML editor, for which a separate installation of ASP.NET is also not required. But, according to most experts, this editor is somewhat inconvenient in that it constantly issues requests to save those files that were not edited at all. However, which programmer to use as the main one, each programmer or web developer decides for himself. And here very often the choice in favor of one or another solution will depend on which direction the ASP.NET web application or page you are creating, and what tools you prefer to use in practical terms.
Epilogue
Here is a brief summary of all the ASP.NET platform and toolkit descriptions. What it is and what is needed, I think, is already a little clear. In general, the description, especially with many examples, can still be continued and continued, but for the average user who does not have a special idea about ASP.NET, this will not work. For the initial familiarization, for the time being, what was given above will suffice. If you want to understand the essence of the use of such tools in web programming or design, it is better to read the extensive documentation provided even on the official resources of the developer, not to mention the impressive help content system, which is provided for all installed software products of this type in them .