Introduction to ASP.NET

Classic ASP - Active Server Pages (Dynamic Server Pages)

ASP, the full name is Active Server Pages (Dynamic Server Pages), also known as Classic ASP, is a Launched in 1998 as Microsoft's first server-side scripting engine.

ASP is a technology that enables scripts in web pages to be executed on an Internet server.

ASP pages have a file extension of .asp and are usually written in VBScript.

If you want to learn classic ASP, please visit our classic ASP tutorial.

ASP.NET

ASP.NET is a new generation of ASP. It is incompatible with classic ASP, but ASP.NET may include classic ASP.

ASP.NET pages are compiled, which makes them run faster than classic ASP.

ASP.NET has better language support, a large set of user controls and XML-based components, and integrated user authentication.

ASP.NET pages have an extension of .aspx and are usually written in VB (Visual Basic) or C# (C sharp).

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 script file, and returns the results to the browser as a normal HTML page.

ASP.NET Razor

Razor is a new, simple markup syntax for embedding server code into ASP.NET web pages, much like classic ASP.

Razor has the functionality of traditional ASP.NET, but is easier to use and easier to learn.

ASP.NET Programming Language

This tutorial covers the following programming languages:

Visual Basic (VB.NET)
C# (pronounced: C sharp)

ASP.NET Server Technologies

This tutorial introduces the following server technologies

Web Pages (Razor Syntax)
MVC (Model-View-Controller)
Web Forms (Traditional ASP.NET)

##ASP.NET Development Tools

ASP.NET supports the following development tools:

WebMatrix
Visual Web Developer
Visual Studio

In this tutorial , the Web Pages tutorial uses WebMatrix, and the MVC tutorial and Web Forms tutorial use Visual Web Developer.

ASP.NET file extension

The file extension for classic ASP files is .asp
ASP .NET files have the file extension .aspx
Razor ASP.NET files with C# syntax have the file extension .cshtml
Razor The file extension for ASP.NET files in VB syntax is .vbhtml