.net general questions

Hi guys,

I have some general .net questions. I have spent a few hours skimming through the .net tutorial at w3schools, and I am still unsure as to how everything comes together. I understand asp.net is a server-side language that can be written in C#, VB, etc. Why is it called asp.net then, instead of just whatever language you use? Are there some standard ASP.net code structues that you incorporate with whatever language you use?

I'm not sure if I am explaining myself right, sometimes it's kind of difficult to ask questions when you are unsure of the big picture.

Also, I don't really understand what ADO.net is. Just some modules for ASP to connect to databases?

I come from a apache / php / mysql background, so I am interested in building a .net project.

As far as I see, I install win2k, download the .net framework, this allows IIS to be .net compatible, install SQL server (update it!), install VS.net (programming environment), learn VB.net and use it to program ASP code, with ADO to connect the ASP to SQL server.

Again, why is it called ASP instead of (because i'm gonna use VB) just VB? Please make comparisons to apache/mysql/php is possible, so I understand what's going on.

Thanks

I am afraid I don't use PHP, mySQL or Apache but her is a basic overview of what .NET is.

All .NET languages are executed withing a .NET runtime enviroment called .NET framework. This is alalogous to the Java VM.

The thing which makes a language .NET is it's compiler which compiles int MSIL (MS Intermetiate Language), yes, similar to VB6.0's P-Code and Java's Bytecode. This gives it it's platform independance, via frameworks released for difference operating systems.

As for ADO.NET and ASP.NET, other than they are versions of ADO and ASP created for the .NET enviroment, I am afraid I don't realy know the difference.

Effectivly though, all .NET languages should compile into the same MSIL which means that the programming language you choose is now really just a life-style choice (to quote someone who's name I can remember). However, VB.NET, MC++ and J# are all .NET languages which have been bread from previous versions. C#, dispite it's C-like similarities has been designed specifically for .NET. If you can handle it, them I would recommed C#, it is a lot more complex than VB.NET, but you will grown to understand the functioning of .NET better from it, but like I say, it is simply a matter of choice.

Good Luck!

Dave

P.S The Microsft Web Broadcasts are really good, also, if you are planning on developing ASP.NET then there is a free IDE for it caled WebMatrix and a pretty good (although quite slow) C# IDE called #develop

Good answer, much better than I describe it.

ASP.NET is so very different from your PHP/MySQL background, trust me... I understand classic ASP, and prefer PHP much more than it, but ASP.NET is just amazing.

I mean, it's so powerful, the ability to write console applications, website applications, and windows applications all from one language and easily extend your a class to all three for the same functionality is cool. BUT, there's a very different mindset involved. It's the mindset of the VB programmer, who drags and drops, and uses event driven programming to model their application.

For alot of people, that's great! And I have no problems with VB or event driven programming, and I've seen alot of fantastic software in-out of the company I work for written in VB/VB.NET technology. But the event driven scheme of things is NOT how my mind works.

Im used to: if you want a row of something from a database, you figure out that database API (unless you use ODBC), you connect, you select, you loop, and you close. In ASP.NET, it's not really designed for that. You drag a Microsoft control (or you acquire a different custom control from somewhere else, usually costs lots of $$), and you define the properties of the data you want, how you want it to look, etc in that control. Instantly, your page works and the data is shown.

You can't really modify how the data appears so much unless the control allows for those property changes. It seems to me Windows development, and .NET development was not really designed for someone who likes to control every aspect of how something executes, but more or less for rapid application development, which is great! But not my cup of tea.

I mean, surely you could design your own custom controls and eventually come up with the same end result, but why? It will end up being slower and more Microsoft-platform ONLY than I'd really like, the whole point of control of the data is to prevent myself from having to run on it on IIS.

BUT... I guess it adds a level of "convenience" to it all too.

Just got to decide what you like.

Something I have yet to do. *sighs*

Phillip