What is ASP.NET ? - Part 1

ASP.NET is a Web Application Framework developed by Microsoft to build dynamic data-driven Web applications and Web Services supported by browsers. 

• ASP.NET is a successor to Classic ASP(Active Server Pages)
• ASP.NET is a subset of .NET Framework.
• It allows Programmers/Developers/Organizations to build dynamic web sites using major languages like C# & VB.NET.
• ASP.NET is Compiled, not Interpreted.
• ASP.NET can be used to develop desktop web applications, mobile and tablet applications as well.
• ASP.NET is object-oriented, multi-language, multi-device and multi-browser that runs inside the Common Language Runtime(CLR) of .NET Framework.

Other Technologies used to build web applications ?

• Ruby on Rails,
• Java/J2EE,
• CGI/Perl,
• Macromedia,
• LAMP(Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP).

What is a Web Application ?

• A Web Application is an application that is accessed by users using web browsers.
• Type of Web Browsers:
1. Microsoft Internet Explorer,
2. Google Chrome,
3. Mozilla Firefox,
4. Netscape Navigator.

Types of Web Applications ?

• Customer-facing applications are known as eCommerce or B2C sites and use the internet. These typically present a customer with choices of products or services to buy using a shopping cart and payment method. Examples are travel reservations, http://www.amazon.com and http://www.ebay.com. This market has really taken off. 
• Employee-facing applications use the intranet in a company. One example is a company's accounting application. Another might be employee expense reporting. A third might be the ERP (enterprise requirements planning) system. These applications previously operated on an internal client-server network. They are now web-enabled to make them easier to use and deploy. Disparate applications, such as an ERP and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems are now being integrated using XML and web services.
• Customer-Supplier facing applications are known as B2B (Business to Business) sites and use the extranet, (an extension of an intranet that allows outside companies to work in a password-protected space). B2B sites provide a secure means for sharing selected information. One example is supply chain software that allows all suppliers to see demand and inventory in the supply chain. Another example is procurement software that allows a customer to send RFQs(Request For Quotations) and receive quotes over the web. A third example is collaboration software that allows companies to share product development and project management information.

Advantages of Web Applications ?

• ASP.NET drastically reduces the amount of code required to build large applications.
• With built-in Windows authentication and per-application configuration, your applications are safe and secured.
• It provides better performance by taking advantage of early binding, just-in-time compilation, native optimization, and caching services right out of the box.
• The ASP.NET framework is complemented by a rich toolbox and designer in the Visual Studio integrated development environment. WYSIWYG editing, drag-and-drop server controls, and automatic deployment are just a few of the features this powerful tool provides.
• Provides simplicity as ASP.NET makes it easy to perform common tasks, from simple form submission and client authentication to deployment and site configuration.
• The source code and HTML are together therefore ASP.NET pages are easy to maintain and write. Also the source code is executed on the server. This provides a lot of power and flexibility to the web pages.
• All the processes are closely monitored and managed by the ASP.NET runtime, so that if process is dead, a new process can be created in its place, which helps keep your application constantly available to handle requests.
• It is purely server-side technology so, ASP.NET code executes on the server before it is sent to the browser.
• Being language-independent, it allows you to choose the language that best applies to your application or partition your application across many languages.
• ASP.NET makes for easy deployment. There is no need to register components because the configuration information is built-in.