ASP.NET (Active Server Pages)

ASP.NET has better language support, a large set of new controls and XML based components, and better user authentication. ASP.NET provides increased performance by running compiled code. ASP.NET code is not fully backward compatible with ASP.

ASP.NET is a server side scripting technology that enables scripts (embedded in web pages) to be executed by an Internet server.
-> ASP.NET is a Microsoft Technology
-> ASP stands for Active Server Pages
-> ASP.NET is a program that runs inside IIS

New in ASP.NET
-> Better language support
-> Programmable controls
-> Event-driven programming
-> XML-based components
-> User authentication, with accounts and roles
-> Higher scalability
-> Increased performance - Compiled code
-> Easier configuration and deployment
-> Not fully ASP compatible

Advantages of ASP.NET
1. Language Support
-> ASP.NET uses the new ADO.NET.
-> ASP.NET supports full Visual Basic, not VBScript.
-> ASP.NET supports C# (C sharp) and C++.
-> ASP.NET supports JScript as before.

2.ASP.NET Controls
-> ASP.NET contains a large set of HTML controls. Almost all HTML elements on a page can be defined as ASP.NET control objects that can be controlled by scripts.
-> ASP.NET also contains a new set of object oriented input controls, like programmable list boxes and validation controls.
-> A new data grid control supports sorting, data paging, and everything you expect from a dataset control.

3.Event Aware Controls
-> All ASP.NET objects on a Web page can expose events that can be processed by ASP.NET code.
-> Load, Click and Change events handled by code makes coding much simpler and much better organized.

4.ASP.NET Components
-> ASP.NET components are heavily based on XML. Like the new AD Rotator, that uses XML to store advertisement information and configuration.

5.User Authentication
-> ASP.NET supports forms-based user authentication, including cookie management and automatic redirecting of unauthorized logins.(You can still do your custom login page and custom user checking).

6.User Accounts and Roles
-> ASP .NET allows for user accounts and roles, to give each user (with a given role) access to different server code and executables.
-> High ScalabilityMuch has been done with ASP.NET to provide greater scalability.
-> Server to server communication has been greatly enhanced, making it possible to scale an application over several servers. One example of this is the ability to run XML parsers, XSL transformations and even resource hungry session objects on other servers.

7.Compiled Code
-> The first request for an ASP.NET page on the server will compile the ASP.NET code and keep a cached copy in memory. The result of this is greatly increased performance.

8.Easy Configuration
-> Configuration of ASP.NET is done with plain text files.
Configuration files can be uploaded or changed while the application is running. No need to restart the server. No more metabase or registry puzzle.

9.Easy Deployment
->No more server restart to deploy or replace compiled code. ASP.NET simply redirects all new requests to the new code.

10.Compatibility
-> ASP.NET is not fully compatible with earlier versions of ASP, so most of the old ASP code will need some changes to run under ASP.NET.
-> To overcome this problem, ASP.NET uses a new file extension ".aspx". This will make ASP.NET applications able to run side by side with standard ASP applications on the same server.

ASP.NET 2.0 improves ASP.NET by adding several new features.
Improvements in ASP.NET 2.0

ASP.NET 2.0 was designed to make web development easier and quicker.
Design goals for ASP.NET 2.0:
-> Increase productivity by removing 70% of the code
-> Use the same controls for all types of devices
-> Provide a faster and better web server platform
-> Simplify compilation and installation
-> Simplify the administration of web applications

What's New in ASP.NET 2.0?
Some of the new features in ASP.NET 2.0 are:
-> Master Pages, Themes, and Web Parts
-> Standard controls for navigation
-> Standard controls for security
-> Roles, personalization, and internationalization services
-> Improved and simplified data access controls
-> Full support for XML standards like, XHTML, XML, and WSDL
-> Improved compilation and deployment (installation)
-> Improved site management
-> New and improved development tools.