I understand that it's a Web Framework. But I don't really know why I'd need a framework to begin with. Whenever I code in say PHP for example, I'd always write the code from scratch, store the data in a MySQL DB, and design it using CSS, until I get what I want to appear.

Why should someone such as myself who already understands XHTML, CSS, and some PHP (which is mostly about it) want to go the .NET route? Just looking at a few tutorials about languages like C#, VB.NET, etc. (which I know nothing about really), doesn't really seem to explain the benefits behind using such a framework, or which one I'd want to learn if I were to start somewhere.


Is ASP.NET basically a system for "Programmers to create web pages"? Meaning that those without much knowledge, non-programmers, would tend to not want to use it?

Also, since so many businesses use it, it sounds like it's very helpful and widespread throughout the corporate world. I'm not thinking about just learning the system overnight (that's be impossible), it just seems like it'd be an interesting thing to learn about someday.

.Net is very powerful indeed.

• You can use any of the supported languages in .Net (c#, vb .net etc etc).
• Good thing is you can code in one language then use functions from the compiled code written in another language. That makes it quite portable.
• Huge library you can use. Which saves time a lot.
• bla bla bla I can add more like this....

But if you already on php I dont think you need to migrate to .net. You already have your server side coding expertise with PHP.

.Net or PHP is just a choice you make.

.Net does basically what PHP does.

It has the following advantages:

Huge following
Tons of tutorials (PHP does as well but I've always like .Net tutorials more)
Free IDE Tools (Visual Web Developer express)
By learing .Net, with a little extra effort you can build web applications, windows applications and use Silverlight
Continually being improved upon (SDKs, CLR, DLR, look at some of the .Net 4 features being put in like dynamic types)
ASP.Net Ajax controls

And the list goes on.

.NET code is technically faster than PHP. This is because .NET precompiles the code into a compact and optimized executable, while PHP translates your code each time you run it.
That also makes deployable .NET modules a bit more protected in terms of unauthorized use and access.

Also, .NET is a tool for corporate intranets. Some big shops don't let you run public domain tools, so .NET is the only choice for many.

.NET lets you write and reuse code for both web and windows apps. PHP is a web-only tool.

Thanks for the tips guys.

I suppose I'm looking for some more code-oriented and database-driven answers too. Does .NET offer special database retrieval tools? Or anything special related to what kind of data can be stored?

Also, what would I need the libraries for? (Given that whenever I normally write code I just open up notepad++ and write the files from scratch...)

I did already mention that I have no idea about languages like C# and VB.NET. So does that mean I'd have to learn THAT much more if I wanted to use ASP.NET?

ok, the .net framework has the more than 13000 built in classes, This reduces your regular coding by 70%. after installing the framework you can utilize those classes in your asp.net pages.

asp.net is exhaustive, you can use some data server controls to retrieve, insert, edit, delete the database just by draging and dropping.

Look for the videos about gridview, detailsview, in the

asp.net/learn

.Net has difficult syntax as compare to php. It is meant for windows based server but it has very good IDE which allow faster and less coding.

Well to be honest, had I come across this thread not knowing anything about asp.net I would be even more confused!!!!

Yeah, and there's a lot there, I wouldn't even know where to start. (Like on the .NET learn page for example, there's tons of video tutorials that just talk about different versions of it, and expect you to have prior knowledge of .NET jargon.)

If I were just starting out, I wouldn't really see a reason why I'd choose .NET over a LAMP based system.

Basically LAMP is Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP

Microsoft equivalent is Windows, IIS, MSSQL, .Net

You have just said why would you choose .Net over a Lamp system. This is inacurate, the real question is why would you choose .Net over PHP, and to be more accurate ASP.Net vs PHP.

Both do basically the same things. Whatever you need to do in one you can pretty much do in the other.

The real questions you should ask are:

What languages are you familiar with (if any)?
What is the cost to start try this stuff out?
What system would I be most comfortable programming on?
Which ones have the most jobs and are in the most demand?

I chose .Net because I was familiar with windows and started with visual basic. Make a choice and research the product. Asking which language is better is like asking if an apple is better than an orange (it's personal preference and is dependent upon context of the question)

I know what a LAMP system is (I use it), which is why I mentioned it. So how is comparing .NET to PHP more accurate? I thought you could choose which language you wanted to use within the .NET framework (VB.NET, C#, etc.), so you'd compare PHP to one of those...

Anyway, as for the questions you say I should ask...

What languages are you familiar with (if any)?

As I state in my OP: (X)HTML, CSS, and some PHP (mostly working within the Wordpress environment).

What is the cost to start try this stuff out?

Don't know.

I downloaded Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 a while back (because it was free) along with a few other things (Visual Studio 2008 and SQL server 2008) to see if I could try to give it a go and learn, but I was completely lost basically, didn't know what to do with them.

What system would I be most comfortable programming on?

Not sure what you mean. What options would I have?

Which ones have the most jobs and are in the most demand?

Most of the corporate web positions I see advertised the most require ASP.NET experience (another reason I thought I might look into it). Haven't seen too much else available recently.

Originally, I thought I might end up wanting to use ASP.NET to create some slick User Interfaces and Content Management Systems, Social Networking Interfaces, etc.

But given that I don't feel I completely understand .NET, that point may be moot.

I've learned some ASP.net and sort of getting it. I have watched a couple of these video tutorials:

http://www.asp.net/get-started/
http://www.asp.net/learn/videos/#howdoi

If you watch some of videos and have a look around the site I am sure you will pick it up fairly quickly

You can use the ebooks for the asp.net and in that wrox is the best one if you want this book then just go to this link and download it.........http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTit...764588508.html