I'm sure everyone will be interested to know the answer to this because

it's a really simple question .



What exactly is the advantage that is SO big , that I can't live without

and threfore have to re-write all my ASP code to this new style .



I really like ASP+ ( sorry ASP.NET and we didn't see that coming now , did

we ??) , but an awful lot of it seems to be towards keeping web developers

in jobs . Eh ?



First came HTML and JavaScript , then Front Page .

So we made CSS and then Front Page '98 began to handle that too .

So we made dHTML and it never got it's just deserts because of Flash (

which I am not against - just hear me out ) .

Then ASP was the next big thing , no editor could replace the Web

Developer and his Coding skills with ASP .

Then came Dreamweaver Ultradev .

Within 2 months of learning Web Design my girlfriend was producing dynamic

asp pages .



Then we proclaimed that XML and WAP was the wave of the future .



WAP hasn't taken off and I have just converted my 4 large websites to XML

at the start of the year .



Then 2 months ago I had to convert all my XSLT stylesheets to the NEW

microsoft parser .



I only finished that last month and now I am expected to re-write all the

ASP code to ASP+ ( sorry ASP.NET ) ?



Can someone tell me what is the point ?



If someone can tell me I will change , I was convinced with ASP within 10

minutes . But I've been reading this for a month now and just don't see

it.



Please help ...

Just a few observations, please don't take it wrong.



Front Page isn't a tool that many web developers truly use.  It's gotten

better over the years true, but to many people got upset with how it handled

their code and made changes it thought was better.  Most of which usually

crashed in Netscape too.  In the case of JavaScript, VBScript, CSS, and

dHTML in general, yes there are a number of editors out there that do a

'pretty good job' of handling them.  I've found that no matter how good the

editor is though, unless you honestly know what's going on, you don't make

anything better than 'pretty good' web sites.



Take it a step further with UltraDev, a product that I tried for a few

months on the behest of die hard Macromedia fan.  I didn't really like how

it handled the pages, and I don't think it produces solid code, but it is

good enough that a Web Designer can make basic Dynamic ASP pages, they

cannot however create scalable distributed applications.



Which really leads us to, what is the point?  WAP and XML might not have

taken off to the point that was so readily promised, but given the recent

decline in DotCom Craze(TM) as I like to call it, they are doing well, and

they will end up having a strong market presence.  As these trends grow, and

people start to move away from the B2C hype of the internet, companies are

going to start getting a foothold on using the Internet for strong B2B

ideas, where the real money is for the Internet.  As such, they are going to

want Web Developers to get away from Flashy sites and start to produce real

web applications.  That is where ASP.NET starts to come in.



ASP has gone through various improvements over the years, and with Version 3

was capable of doing some pretty amazing things, however it wasn't fully to

the point that it needed to be.  This .NET Framework helps with a lot of the

basic annoyances of ASP such as Form Validation and State Control.  These

are pieces that I had to re-write every time I changed jobs or contracts.

Yes they are fairly easy to create, but it takes some time to do, and

investors like to get the most out of their time.



There is also the improvement of moving the pages away from what amounted to

scripts to fully qualified Objects, with language support for strong types

and early binding which helps to reduce the error load, especially when you

take full advantage of code-behind classes.  I've also run some tests, and

even with just the PDC bits, the pages do run faster than normal ASP pages,

so you are getting a speed increase and better performance just by using the

Framework.  



I guess to end this quickly, the point is Scalable Distributed Applications.

The .NET Framework as a whole is about creating these, and ASP.NET is the

presentation layer.







-----Original Message-----

From: Kev Gallagher [mailto:kgallagher@s...]

Sent: Monday, November 20, 2000 10:07 AM

To: ASP+

Subject: [aspx] What is the point ??





I'm sure everyone will be interested to know the answer to this because

it's a really simple question .



What exactly is the advantage that is SO big , that I can't live without

and threfore have to re-write all my ASP code to this new style .



I really like ASP+ ( sorry ASP.NET and we didn't see that coming now , did

we ??) , but an awful lot of it seems to be towards keeping web developers

in jobs . Eh ?



First came HTML and JavaScript , then Front Page .

So we made CSS and then Front Page '98 began to handle that too .

So we made dHTML and it never got it's just deserts because of Flash (

which I am not against - just hear me out ) .

Then ASP was the next big thing , no editor could replace the Web

Developer and his Coding skills with ASP .

Then came Dreamweaver Ultradev .

Within 2 months of learning Web Design my girlfriend was producing dynamic

asp pages .



Then we proclaimed that XML and WAP was the wave of the future .



WAP hasn't taken off and I have just converted my 4 large websites to XML

at the start of the year .



Then 2 months ago I had to convert all my XSLT stylesheets to the NEW

microsoft parser .



I only finished that last month and now I am expected to re-write all the

ASP code to ASP+ ( sorry ASP.NET ) ?



Can someone tell me what is the point ?



If someone can tell me I will change , I was convinced with ASP within 10

minutes . But I've been reading this for a month now and just don't see

it.



Please help ...

The 'point' is efficiency in programming.



By the time the page hits the browser, it's gonna look the same -- regardless of

it being created in ASP or ASP.NET.



Stateful controls, validation controls, caching, code behind -- these all make

programming more efficient. It wasn't impossible to do before -- but with sites

getting larger, more feature-filled -- time shouldn't be spent redoing the same

things over and over. (Such as form validation, ugh.)



If your ASP pages are working fine, leave them. As you build your new pages,

create them in ASP.NET. They'll reside together peacefully. As you need the

power of ASP.NET in your ASP pages, simply rename them and begin to weave the

ASP.NET code into your pages.



It's definately, at one level, a big efficiency boon for developers.



Ben



> -----Original Message-----

> From: Kev Gallagher [mailto:kgallagher@s...]

> Sent: Monday, November 20, 2000 1:07 PM

> To: ASP+

> Subject: [aspx] What is the point ??

>

>

> I'm sure everyone will be interested to know the answer to this because

> it's a really simple question .

>

> What exactly is the advantage that is SO big , that I can't live without

> and threfore have to re-write all my ASP code to this new style .

>

> I really like ASP+ ( sorry ASP.NET and we didn't see that coming now , did

> we ??) , but an awful lot of it seems to be towards keeping web developers

> in jobs . Eh ?

>

> First came HTML and JavaScript , then Front Page .

> So we made CSS and then Front Page '98 began to handle that too .

> So we made dHTML and it never got it's just deserts because of Flash (

> which I am not against - just hear me out ) .

> Then ASP was the next big thing , no editor could replace the Web

> Developer and his Coding skills with ASP .

> Then came Dreamweaver Ultradev .

> Within 2 months of learning Web Design my girlfriend was producing dynamic

> asp pages .

>

> Then we proclaimed that XML and WAP was the wave of the future .

>

> WAP hasn't taken off and I have just converted my 4 large websites to XML

> at the start of the year .

>

> Then 2 months ago I had to convert all my XSLT stylesheets to the NEW

> microsoft parser .

>

> I only finished that last month and now I am expected to re-write all the

> ASP code to ASP+ ( sorry ASP.NET ) ?

>

> Can someone tell me what is the point ?

>

> If someone can tell me I will change , I was convinced with ASP within 10

> minutes . But I've been reading this for a month now and just don't see

> it.

>

> Please help ...

>

This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand

this format, some or all of this message may not be legible.



------_=_NextPart_001_01C05438.8D7A985C

Content-Type: text/plain;

	charset="iso-8859-1"



Kev,



All I can say is faster, better, easier.



You do not need to re-write your ASP apps in ASP.net, your existing apps can

run along side your "legacy" ASP apps. You (or the project leader, if you're

not) needs to decide if the benefits of .net are worth the extra work. In my

opinion they are. I am re-writing applications in ASP.net from ASP because

this is a good way for me to learn and a good way to increase performance.

So point 1, performance. Secondly ASP.net is more powerful, point 2. Point

3, ASP.net is more scalable, and point 4 more manageable. 5, cross platform

(???).

Fortunately I make the decisions about where my companies products go

technically, and I see great benefit in moving to .net. I will re-evaluate

my opinion as the beta process continues and consider my options seriously

if Microsoft does not release a non Windows release.

All of my reasoning is in the context of my applications and my target

market, not to mention the organisation in which I work.

There are a few reasons (to reiterate):

	1. Performance increase

	2. Power (language level - no more VBScript)

	3. Scalability

	4. Manageability

	5. Cross Platform development

There are my reasons, you have to evaluate the platform and consider what

benefits it offers you and your company in order to answer your own

question. Just remember you might find that, in your case, there is no

point.



I hope this helps.

Daniel Croft



-----Original Message-----

From: Kev Gallagher [mailto:kgallagher@s...]

Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2000 5:07 AM

To: ASP+

Subject: [aspx] What is the point ??





I'm sure everyone will be interested to know the answer to this because

it's a really simple question .



What exactly is the advantage that is SO big , that I can't live without

and threfore have to re-write all my ASP code to this new style .



I really like ASP+ ( sorry ASP.NET and we didn't see that coming now , did

we ??) , but an awful lot of it seems to be towards keeping web developers

in jobs . Eh ?



First came HTML and JavaScript , then Front Page .

So we made CSS and then Front Page '98 began to handle that too .

So we made dHTML and it never got it's just deserts because of Flash (

which I am not against - just hear me out ) .

Then ASP was the next big thing , no editor could replace the Web

Developer and his Coding skills with ASP .

Then came Dreamweaver Ultradev .

Within 2 months of learning Web Design my girlfriend was producing dynamic

asp pages .





Then we proclaimed that XML and WAP was the wave of the future .



WAP hasn't taken off and I have just converted my 4 large websites to XML

at the start of the year .



Then 2 months ago I had to convert all my XSLT stylesheets to the NEW

microsoft parser .



I only finished that last month and now I am expected to re-write all the

ASP code to ASP+ ( sorry ASP.NET ) ?



Can someone tell me what is the point ?



If someone can tell me I will change , I was convinced with ASP within 10

minutes . But I've been reading this for a month now and just don't see

it.



Please help ...