ASP.NET - Opinions?
Discussion
Right - seasoned (and bored!) VB6 programmer here. No knowledge of .NET... so,
What's the word on the street about ASP.NET? Is it a workable solution? Does it work well? What are it's limitations? What are its strengths?
Just interested in opinions really.
(Anticipating Java-peeps to slate it and suggest Java but I'm after opinions on ASP.NET in particular - it's free right?)
What's the word on the street about ASP.NET? Is it a workable solution? Does it work well? What are it's limitations? What are its strengths?
Just interested in opinions really.
(Anticipating Java-peeps to slate it and suggest Java but I'm after opinions on ASP.NET in particular - it's free right?)
Seasoned VB6 programmer here too! Been using ASP.Net for a few years now though. The first couple of versions (1.0 and 1.1) were, in my opinion, still not enough of a leap ahead for me to stop using VB6 and classic ASP, but with v2 they've really made some advances. I can build a website much, much faster now in C# and ASP.Net than I could have done in VB6/ASP, and write less code.
Strengths - C# (it's a great language), built-in stuff like login controls, breadcrumb navigation, master pages, easy caching, etc.
Weaknesses - Bit more complex than ASP, although you can still modify source & copy up to the webserver if you want (it'll automatically recompile), if you don't like the behaviour of std. controls sometimes it's an arse to modify their behaviour, but a lot easier than v1.1.
Think most of it is free now - the 'express' versions of visual studio certainly are, and i'm guessing the .Net framework must be too. It's good stuff imho (finally!).
Strengths - C# (it's a great language), built-in stuff like login controls, breadcrumb navigation, master pages, easy caching, etc.
Weaknesses - Bit more complex than ASP, although you can still modify source & copy up to the webserver if you want (it'll automatically recompile), if you don't like the behaviour of std. controls sometimes it's an arse to modify their behaviour, but a lot easier than v1.1.
Think most of it is free now - the 'express' versions of visual studio certainly are, and i'm guessing the .Net framework must be too. It's good stuff imho (finally!).
futie said:How was the move to C#? Like starting again or a bit simpler than that?
Strengths - C# (it's a great language), built-in stuff like login controls, breadcrumb navigation, master pages, easy caching, etc.
What's breadcrumb navigation?!! (bloody new jargon, in my day blah, blah
) 
Thanks for the opinion!Seasoned Java programmer here 
Had to write a demo site to send out to clients showing how to access our (Java based - although it doesn't actually make any difference) web service. Having not done any VB for nearing 10 years, I still managed to download Visual Web Developer Express and knock up a functioning, although not exactly pretty or complicated, website in a couple of hours.
Was actually fairly impressed with it TBH.
Had to write a demo site to send out to clients showing how to access our (Java based - although it doesn't actually make any difference) web service. Having not done any VB for nearing 10 years, I still managed to download Visual Web Developer Express and knock up a functioning, although not exactly pretty or complicated, website in a couple of hours.
Was actually fairly impressed with it TBH.
chim_knee said:When we started to use ASP.Net we had to make a decision - C# or VB.Net. The most obvious choice since most of us were VB6 programmers would have been VB. But for me I found it more than a little confusing - it was like a halfway house between VB6 and a proper OO language. Picking up C# was easier than we thought and of course means that in your head they are two very distinct languages so you're not trying to write VB.Net in the VB6 IDE by mistake!
How was the move to C#? Like starting again or a bit simpler than that?
I have to say that i'd taken the trouble to learn Java a couple of years back, so lots of the concepts were very familiar, but even so I think it's a very consistent language and the best part, I find, is that it's just so damn picky. So most of the time if it compiles, then it'll run. You just don't get that with VB; depending on your style of writing (option explicit, variants, etc) you can write such loose code that you're never sure until you get it under some sort of load whether it will work or not.
futie said:Very interesting - thanks. I think its very pertinent about the distinct languages - I can definitely see the confusion posibilities with VB.Net vs. VB6
How was the move to C#? Like starting again or a bit simpler than that?
I have to say that i'd taken the trouble to learn Java a couple of years back, so lots of the concepts were very familiar, but even so I think it's a very consistent language and the best part, I find, is that it's just so damn picky. So most of the time if it compiles, then it'll run. You just don't get that with VB; depending on your style of writing (option explicit, variants, etc) you can write such loose code that you're never sure until you get it under some sort of load whether it will work or not.
We do a lot of C# and ASP.NET 2.0 within our company and though I haven't done any myself the feedback from my colleagues has been excellent.
Personally, I prefer the syntax of C# when compared to VB.NET, probably because my background is in Java, but also I think because it's been better designed for Object Oriented Programming (OOP) as someone mentioned earlier.
Also, don't forget, the .NET Compact Framework is also worth a look...
Personally, I prefer the syntax of C# when compared to VB.NET, probably because my background is in Java, but also I think because it's been better designed for Object Oriented Programming (OOP) as someone mentioned earlier.
Also, don't forget, the .NET Compact Framework is also worth a look...
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