About Dotnet Lines

The Dotnet Lines aims at the keen understanding of basics of Asp.net and related areas of interests.

ASP.NET is the new offering for Web developers from the Microsoft .It is not simply the next-generation of ASP; in fact, it is a completely re-engineered and enhanced technology that offers much, much more than traditional ASP and can increase productivity significantly. 

Because it has evolved from ASP, ASP.NET looks very similar to its predecessor—but only at first sight. Some items look very familiar, and they remind us of ASP. But concepts like Web Forms, Web Services, or Server Controls gives ASP.NET the power to build real Web applications.

Often people meet with questions  like: 

• Where to begin?

• Where Do I start?

• How to Get Started?

So I decided to write this "boring" post to express my opinion and hopefully this can help beginners find their way to get started with ASP.NET.  Based on my experience learning ASP.NET is just like learning how to play a guitar.. (really? how can we say that? ). 

(1) First you must have this what we call "interest" because if you don't, you'll just waste your time for practicing stuffs that you don't like it at all. 

(2) choose what type of guitar that you would like to use, either electric(VB) or the acoustic(C#) one? just pick the one that you would be interested in. Anyway's once you've manage to learn one of them then its easy for you to learn the other one.

(3) After you've picked the type of guitar that you would like to use then you can start learning the basic chords and how the guitar act or interpret your chords when you strum the strings (which means you should learn the basic concepts of OOPs and how ASP.NET works). You would also need to know about data types, variables, flow control, syntax and how to write methods and classes.  From there, you can muddle through and learn what you need to learn as you go.

(4)Start thinking a song that you would like to play using those basic chords (Based on my experience, the easiest way to learn ASP.NET is to develop a sample application in your own, think of an application that you would like to develop and apply the things that you have learned. You can grab a book and refer to online tutorials that would help you building your application and I'm sure you will learn a lot of things as you go along... You can also download a starter web site kit and try to figure out how it works by looking at the code, and referring to your resources.) 

(5)Continue playing and learn advance chords, clippings,plucking, power chords, broken chords etcetera.. and learn the proper way on how to execute those chords..  (After you've learned the basics then continue learning other things like CSS, Client-side technologies, new features, best practices, design patterns, data architecture, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera and etcetera ...We are all still learning and always will be. Change is constant in the technology industry, especially what we work with progresses rapidly and we have to keep up.

(6)The more you practice the more you learn something and the longer you play with the guitar you might be able to compose your own song that might make people happy or inspired..:) (Which means that the more you gain experience you might be able to develop your own tool or framework which can be very useful to anyone..)
 
Here are some useful resources that can you refer to help you get started with ASP.NET:

Get Started:  http://www.asp.net/get-started/ 
Learn:          http://www.asp.net/learn/
Videos:         http://www.asp.net/learn/videos/

Quick Starts: http://quickstarts.asp.net/QuickStartv20/aspnet/Default.aspx
PluralSight:   http://www.pluralsight.com/main/
LearnVisualStudio:  http://www.learnvisualstudio.net/

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How to start with ASP.NET ?

ASP.NET supports three different development models:

Web Pages, MVC (Model View Controller), and Web Forms:

Web Pages Single Pages Model		MVC Model View Controller		Web Forms Event Driven Model
Simplest ASP.NET model. Similar to PHP and classic ASP. Built-in templates and helpers for database, video, graphics, social media and more.		MVC separates web applications into 3 different components: Models for data Views for display Controllers for input		The traditional ASP.NET event driven development model: Web pages with added server controls, server events, and server code.

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Web Pages Tutorial

If you are new to ASP.NET, Web Pages is the perfect place to start.
Web Pages is the easiest development model for developing ASP.NET web sites.
In our Web Pages tutorial you will learn how to combine HTML, CSS, JavaScript and server code, using the latest Razor server markup syntax with Visual Basic or C#.
You will also learn how to extend your web pages with programmable Web Helpers, including database, video, graphics, social networking and much more.

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MVC Tutorial

MVC is a model for building web applications using a MVC (Model View Controller) design.
If you want a lighter alternative to traditional ASP.NET, MVC is the place to start.
In our MVC tutorial you will learn how to build web applications using a lightweight development model, integrated with all existing ASP.NET features, such as Master Pages, Security, and Authentication.

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Web Forms Tutorial

Web Forms is the traditional ASP.NET model, based on event driven Web Forms and post backs.
Over the years, developers have used ASP.NET Web Forms to create many of the largest websites in the world.
If you want to study the design model used by many web developers over the last 10 years, this is the place to start.

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Who Are These Tutorials For?

The tutorials above are for anyone who wants to learn to build websites on the Microsoft ASP.NET platform, from hobby-related sites, to new, modern, and fully commercial webs.
Even if you are new to web programming, you should be able to follow the tutorials, but it will help if you have a basic understanding of HTML and CSS.
It will also help if you have a basic understanding of scripting languages like JavaScript or VB (Visual Basic).
Do you have a preference for VB over C#? Do you want to learn both languages? The good news are: In the W3Schools tutorials most code examples are in both languages.
If you are a professional web developer with prior ASP.NET experience, you can still learn a lot, since these tutorials covers a lot of new ASP.NET concepts, like HTML5, CSS3, JQuery, and more.

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Classic ASP - Active Server Pages

Active Server Pages (ASP), also known as Classic ASP, was introduced in 1998 as Microsoft's first server side scripting engine.
ASP is a technology that enables scripts in web pages to be executed by an Internet server.
ASP pages have the file extension .asp, and are normally written in VBScript.

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ASP.NET

ASP.NET is a new ASP generation. It is not compatible with Classic ASP, but ASP.NET may include Classic ASP.
ASP.NET pages are compiled, which makes them faster than Classic ASP.
ASP.NET has better language support, a large set of user controls, XML-based components, and integrated user authentication.
ASP.NET pages have the extension .aspx, and are normally written in VB (Visual Basic) or C# (C sharp).
User controls in ASP.NET can be written in different languages, including C++ and Java.
When a browser requests an ASP.NET file, the ASP.NET engine reads the file, compiles and executes the scripts in the file, and returns the result to the browser as plain HTML.

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ASP.NET Razor

Razor is a new and simple markup syntax for embedding server code into ASP.NET web pages, much like Classic ASP.
Razor has the power of traditional ASP.NET, but is easier to use and easier to learn.

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ASP.NET Programming Languages

This tutorial covers the following programming languages:

• Visual Basic (VB.NET)
• C# (Pronounced C sharp)

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ASP.NET Server Technologies

This tutorial covers the following server technologies:

• Web Pages (with Razor syntax)
• MVC (Model View Controller)
• Web Forms (traditional ASP.NET)

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ASP.NET Development Tools

ASP.NET supports the following development tools:

• WebMatrix
• Visual Web Developer
• Visual Studio

This tutorial uses WebMatrix for Web Pages, and Visual Web Developer for MVC and Web Forms.

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ASP.NET File Extensions

• Classic ASP files have the file extension .asp
• ASP.NET files have the file extension .aspx
• ASP.NET files with Razor C# syntax have the file extension .cshtml
• ASP.NET files with Razor VB syntax have the file extension .vbhtml

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What are Web Pages?

Web Pages is one of the 3 programming models for creating ASP.NET web sites and web applications.
The other two programming models are Web Forms and MVC (Model, View, Controller).
Web Pages is the simplest programming model for developing ASP.NET web pages. It provides an easy way to combine HTML, CSS, JavaScript and server code:

• Easy to learn, understand, and use
• Built around single web pages
• Similar to PHP and Classic ASP
• Server scripting with Visual Basic or C#
• Full HTML, CSS, and JavaScript control

Web Pages is easy extendable with programmable Web Helpers, including database, video, graphics, social networking and much more.

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Where to Start?

Many developers like to start learning a new technology by looking at working examples.

If you want to take a look at a working Web Pages example, follow the ASP.NET Web Pages Demo.

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Overview of ASP.NET

ASP.NET is a unified Web development model that includes the services necessary for you to build enterprise-class Web applications with a minimum of coding. ASP.NET is part of the .NET Framework, and when coding ASP.NET applications you have access to classes in the .NET Framework.
                                                  You can code your applications in any language compatible with the common language runtime (CLR), including Microsoft Visual Basic and C#. These languages enable you to develop ASP.NET applications that benefit from the common language runtime, type safety, inheritance, and so on.

 

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Overview of .NET

The .NET Framework is a technology that supports building and running the next generation of applications and XML Web services. The .NET Framework is designed to fulfill the following objectives:

• To provide a consistent object-oriented programming environment whether object code is stored and executed locally, executed locally but Internet-distributed, or executed remotely.
  
• To provide a code-execution environment that minimizes software deployment and versioning conflicts.
  
• To provide a code-execution environment that promotes safe execution of code, including code created by an unknown or semi-trusted third party.
  
• To provide a code-execution environment that eliminates the performance problems of scripted or interpreted environments.
  
• To make the developer experience consistent across widely varying types of applications, such as Windows-based applications and Web-based applications.
  
• To build all communication on industry standards to ensure that code based on the .NET Framework can integrate with any other code.
  

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Creating an ASP.NET Web Form

The multi-targeting feature of Visual Studio 2008 enables you to specify the .NET Framework version that you want the Web site or Web service to target. This lets you use Visual Studio 2008 to modify existing and new Visual Studio 2008 Web projects without unintentionally creating new assembly dependencies in your projects. 

Visual Studio 2008 enables you to build a Web site that can be deployed to the .NET Framework 2.0, .NET Framework version 3.0, or .NET Framework version 3.5 Service Pack 1. It does this by making sure that your project uses only the functionality that is available in the version of the .NET Framework that you specify for the project.

 

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