What is ASP.NET? -Top 12 Advantages of ASP.NET

What is ASP.NET? ASP.NET stands for Active Server Pages.NET. In other words ASP.NET is a web application which is developed and marketed by the Microsoft.
ASP.NET is used to create Web pages and services and is an integral part of Microsoft's .NET vision. It is a magic tool for the programmers, it allows them to build web sites, web applications, and web servers.

ASP.NET is a part of the .NET framework, which allows developers to build dynamic web applications and web services using compiled languages like VB and C#.
ASP.NET is not limited to script languages, it allows you to make use of NET languages like C#, J#, VB, etc. It allows the developers to develop very compelling applications by making use of visual studio, the development tool from Microsoft. It is built on a common language runtime that can be used on a server to build powerful Web applications. ASP.NET is purely server-side technology.

In the early days of the Web i.e. before the release of Internet Information Services (IIS) in 1997, the contents of web pages were largely static. These web pages needed to be constantly, and manually, modified. There was an urgent need to create websites that were dynamic and would update automatically.

Microsoft’s Active Server Pages (ASP) was brought to the market to meet this need. ASP executed on the server side, with its output sent to the user's web browser, thus allowing the server to generate dynamic web pages based on the actions of the user.
These server-side technologies are important contributions to the development of the Web. Amazon.com, eBay.com, and so on, are the results of ASP.NET without ASP.NET it would not be possible.

ASP.NET offers several important advantages over previous Web development models.
Here’s a list 12:

1. ASP.NET drastically reduces the amount of code required to build large applications.
2. With built in Windows authentication and per-application configuration, your applications are safe and secured.
3. It provides better performance by taking advantage of early binding, just-in-time compilation, native optimization, and caching services right out of the box.
4. 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.
5. Provides simplicity as ASP.NET makes it easy to perform common tasks, from simple form submission and client authentication to deployment and site configuration.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. It is purely server-side technology so. ASP.NET code executes on the server before it is sent to the browser.
9. Being language-independent, it allows you to choose the language that best applies to your application or partition your application across many languages.
10. ASP.NET makes for easy deployment. There is no need to register components because the configuration information is built-in.
11. The Web server continuously monitors the pages, components and applications running on it. If it notices any memory leaks, infinite loops, other illegal activities, it immediately destroys those activities and restarts itself.
12. Easily works with ADO .NET using data-binding and page formatting features. It is an application which runs faster and counters large volumes of users without having performance problems.

In short ASP.NET, the next version of ASP, is a programming framework used to create enterprise-class Web Applications. These applications are accessible on a global basis leading to efficient information management.

Steve Kozyk
CEO/Founder ITegrity
SEO Web Development & Custom Web Site Design Company

http://www.itegritygroup.com