What is ASP.Net?

Question: I have heard of ASP, but what is ASP.Net?

Answer: ASP.Net is the official successor to the ASP (Active Server Pages) scripting language. Rather than being a simple scripting language, ASP.Net is a web application framework that combines the Microsoft .Net Framework technology with scripting languages and other non-scripting languages.

ASP.Net is released with the .Net Framework and allows web developers to build dynamic websites, web applications, and web services. It features an event-based programming model and can utilize a variety of programming languages, including C#, J#, and VB.Net.

This Common Language Runtime allows programmers to use any language supported by the .Net Framework. Windows server system administrators can install ASP.Net as part of the .Net installation, and developers can use Microsoft Visual Studio to develop dynamic websites with ASP.Net technology.

Advantages of Server-Side Scripting

Server-side scripting means that a script that is executed on a website will be processed by the server and then displayed as regular HTML in the user’s browser. The alternative to it, client-side scripting relies on the user’s own browser, often including plugins, to execute the designated scripts. Both are common, but there are some decisive advantages to taking care of scripting on the server side.

When a website relies on the client’s browser or plugins to execute the script, the assumption is that the necessary plugins or features are actually installed and enabled. If the user does not have the necessary requirements or chooses not to use them, those features on the site will be unavailable. Examples of client-side scripting include Java and Adobe Flash.

With server-side scripting, everything happens internally before the user ever sees the site. By the time the user gets to the page, it is already displayed correctly, and it will be the same content for every user. They do not have to download any extra tools or plugins. Examples of server-side scripting include PHP, Perl, and ASP.

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons

Finding good free scripts for your website

A good web hosting company often provides its website owners with automatically installable scripts for various popular tasks: blogging, photo albums and e-commerce, to name a few. In some special situations, however, it becomes necessary for a webmaster to search for free, reliable scripts on the web. Whether they are Perl, PHP, or ASP scripts, there are some good places to look.

Hotscripts. Hot Scripts is one of the older more well-known script repositories. It provides links, ratings, categories and annotations of thousands of Javascript, C, PHP, Flash, ASP, CGI, Python, and other scripts. This site lists both free and commercial scripts.

PHP Resource index. Another well-known and trusted site, PHP Resource Index lists both free and commercial scripts, allowing users to vote and comment on them. It currently has around 4,000 scripts indexed. Its sister site, CGI Resource Index, lists Perl and CGI scripts.

There are many other script indexes and repositories. Whichever ones you choose, it is important to be mindful of security, not just of your own website but of the entire web server. You will be responsible for installing any updates to your scripts and making sure they are secure. It is also important to understand that you, not your web host, must make the scripts work since you acquired them from third parties.

Photo: Flickr