What is Asp.Net?

Asp.Net is a subset of .Net framework which is used to develop web applications (a web application is installed on a centralised server and from there it can be accessed on any client with the help of internet) and web services (a web service is a software program which utilises XML to exchange information with some other software through common protocols). Asp.Net is a Web application development framework developed by Microsoft used to produce dynamic web pages. Asp.net is a server side technology for website development. ASP.Net is the successor of Classic ASP (Active server pages).

Web Applications are built using the web forms that comes as built-in control in Asp.Net. The web forms contribute in making an interactive user interface. The web forms actually act as web pages and collection of web pages lead to the development of websites. Therefore, we can say that asp.net can even be used in the development of dynamic websites.

Tools Needed for Development

• IIS (Internet Information Services): IIS is web server which is used to host the web applications
• .Net Framework: .Net stands for Network enabled technology which could be understood as a collection of classes that is used for the development.
• Visual Studio: Visual studio is an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) used to write the code for development.
• Programming Language (C#, Visual Basic, J#): There occurs a variety of languages in the .Net framework. We can choose any language according to our ease for the development .

                       ASP.NET works on Client-Server Technology

ASP.Net framework key characteristics

• Code-behind mode

There is a concept of segregation of design and code. While developing web applications in asp.net we have a design file that is present with .aspx extension and there occurs the code behind file with .aspx.cs extension if we are writing the code in C#. This means that we have a different file for designing and coding.

• State Management

The web applications work on HTTP protocol. Http is a stateless protocol. Therefore Asp.Net consists of state management techniques to retain states when there occurs an exchange of values between client and server.

• Caching

Asp.Net can implement the concept of caching and this can help in improving the efficiency of a web application thereby enhancing the performance.

• Cross-Platform

After developing Asp.Net applications, we can deploy them at any of the platforms like macOS, Windows and Linux.

• Rich Development Environment

We use Visual Studio i.e. an IDE. It provides a rich development environment that allows the developer to drag and drop various components and controls onto the web application.

• Language-Independent

Asp.net framework is language independent. This means the developers can develop applications in a language with which they are comfortable.

• File Updation while the server is running

Components of a web application can be updated while the server is online and the client is connected.