In this session we will learn about ASP.NET.

  1. What is ASP.NET?
  2. What is a Web Application?
  3. What other technologies can be used to build web application.
  4. What are the advantages of web applications?
  5. How ASP.NET web application work.
What is ASP.NET

ASP.NET is a web application framework developed by Microsoft to build dynamic data driven web applications and web services.

ASP.NET is a subset of .NET framework and a framework is a collection of classes.

ASP.NET is the successor to classic ASP(Active Server Page).

What is a Web Application

A web application is an application that is accessed by users using a web browser.

Example: To search something on the internet I fire up a browser and I type google.com, so google.com for example is a web application or I want to do some internet banking work. And I fire up a browser I type in Barclays.co.uk meaning Barclays is a web application there. So any application that is typically accessed using a web browser is called a web application. Here are some:

  1. Google Chrome.
  2. Mozilla Firefox.
  3. Microsoft Internet Explorer.
  4. Apple safari.
  5. Netscape Navigator.
What other technologies can be used to build web applications

ASP.NET is not the only technology available to build web applications. There are alternative technologies as well:

  1. PHP
  2. JAVA
  3. CGI
  4. RUBY ON RAILS
  5. PERL
And there are many others as well which I have not listed here.

What are the advantages of web application

There are some advantages of web application.

  1. Web Application just need to be installed only on web server, whereas desktop application need to be installed on every computer, where you want to access them.

  2. Maintenance, support and patches are easier to provide.

  3. Only browser is required on the client machine to access a web application.

  4. Accessible from anywhere, provided there is internet.

  5. Cross Platform
How ASP.NET Web Application Work

  1. Web application work on client/server architecture.

  2. On the client all you need is a browser, that can understand HTML.

  3. On the server side, the Web application runs under Microsoft Internet Information Server(IIS).