Greetings,

What are the major differences (in a nutshell) between asp and asp.net in the following criteria.

 

• Syntax
• Speed
• Complexity (hard to learn?)

TIA,

El Morenito

Go to google and use this query (you should enter the quotes as part of the string):
"differences between asp and asp.net"

One subtle thing to be aware of: when someone says "ASP", they normally mean VBScript and Active Server Pages. ASP can use other languages, but people normally use server-side VBScript in ASP.

However, in ASP.NET there are 2 popular languages: VB.NET and C#. VB.NET is an object oriented version of VB (and a lot more powerful than the simple VBScript language), and C# is more like JavaScript and C/C++. Both languages have the same general speed and capabilites - only the syntax is different.

You should get an introductory book on ASP.NET. You're in the forum for this book: "ASP.NET Website Programming Prob-Design-Solution", and this is not an intro book.

You should not attempt to convert existing ASP pages to ASP.NET in some kind of search-and-replace operation. These are funamentally different ways to design web applications, and you're better off redesigning your old ASP apps.

Eric

I forgot to comment on your third point. ASP.NET is far more complex, but it's more fun and a *LOT* easier to debug. Both VB.NET and C# are compiled languages - syntax errors are caught BEFORE deploying your code.

I've done some work with ASP before using ASP.NET, and the main reasons I prefer ASP.NET:

 - fully compiled - faster, and it catches syntax errors at design time
 - graphical debugging support
 - intellisense at design time (helps you with funtion names and argument types)
 - huge number of standard functions in the Framework Class Library (literally thousands of standard functions)

Eric

Eric, thank you so much for your reply, it really helped me. What book title would you reccomend for me to get into asp.net as I am almost done with my wrox begining asp 3.0 title.

It depends on which language you prefer (VB.NET or C#), and what your long-term plans are. Are you a professional programmer? Do you have a college degree? Or, maybe this is just a hobby for you?

Eric

Eric, I am intereseted in C# as this seems to be the most requested by employers. Hopefully I would like to get dood enough to be able to do this as a career.
As far as college goes, I am just A+ certified for now.
My long term plan is to be a developer/programmer somwhere.

Thanks for any advice you can give me Eric!

My general advice for people who want to become professional programmers is to try to get these things:
1) A college degree in Computer Science or a related field
2) Work experience in the field
3) Certification in .NET

Amit Kalani has 3 great C# books to help you learn the core areas of .NET and get certified. Even if you don't want to get certified, these are great ways to learn .NET. He teaches each new area in a short section, and then he has a practical step-by-step exercise to demonstrate what you just learned. There are many small sections like this. It takes time to go through everything, but it's easy to learn this way, even if you have no prior experience in .NET.

http://www.techcontent.com

Get the blue Training guides - not the red Exam Cram books. Start with the book on 70-315 if you want to learn ASP.NET with C#.

For VB.NET, Mike Gunderloy has published these same books using VB.NET instead of C#.

One last word on work experience: if you can't get an entry level job where they are willing to teach you (which is very hard to get in today's economy), it is helpful to do some volunteer work for churches or charities in your area. When you apply for a job, the interviewer will want to see examples of your work. If you can point to a URL on the web and say you made that site, that's a great benefit for you. It also helps you meet people who might someday be able to help your career.

After you get thru Kalani's book, this book will help you learn how to put the knowledge into action on a larger site: "ASP.NET Website Programming Prob-Design-Solution". But you might want to look into newer books coming out in the next few months that target Visual Studio 2005. This career field is always moving forward, and you need to move with it, or you'll get left behind.

Eric

Eric, just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to help me, I shall look into getting these books.

http://www.w3schools.com/aspnet/aspnet_vsasp.asp

http://www.takempis.com/aspnet_fundamentals.asp


Gokulan Ethiraj

Hi Eric,

Do you google for all.....
Ofcourse it's great search

Gokulan Ethiraj