.net (network) is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) used on the Internet's Domain Name System. The .net gTLD is currently operated by VeriSign. Registrations are processed via accredited registrars and internationalized domain names are also accepted.
.Net covers a range of technologies and doesn’t have a clear or simple definition. The .Net Framework forms the backbone of these technologies and is the common thread linking all the various elements together. Microsoft developed the .Net Framework, a structure which communicates with Microsoft operating system platforms and acts as an intermediary for applications developed using the .Net platform. This is achieved using the Common Language Runtime (CLR).
Applications developed using a .Net technology can be written in a wide number of programming languages, the most common being Visual Basic .Net (VB.Net) and C Sharp (C#) but also includes others such as Java.Net and Delphi.Net. Irrespective of which language the application is written in, the program code is then compiled into the CLR.
When you write program code it is normally written using a format and structure (the programming language) which can be understood relatively easily by humans. However, features and structure of the programming language which make it easy for us to understand often do not make it easy or efficient for a computer to process. We therefore introduce this process called compiling. A compiler is an application developed to take the programme code written in its human format and then turn it into the computer format often referred to as machine code. In the case of .Net the code is compiled into the CLR.
As the CLR can be interpreted by any computer that runs the .Net Framework then the compiled application is compatible across a broad range of platforms which in practice is any of the more recent Microsoft Windows platforms.
Active Server Pages can be distinguished from more conventional HTML documents as the document will end with the file extension .asp.
Active Server Pages were introduced to allow dynamic content to be added to otherwise static web pages developed using HTML. ASP files include scripts (mainly written in Visual Basic Script) which are inserted within the document code which tell the web server how to present the document to the web browser.
ASP.Net pages can be identified by the file extension .aspx. Conceptually they work along the same lines as conventional ASP pages although the whole process is applied to the .Net Framework. In an ASP.Net page the code is separated from the document mark up; this simplifies the layout and understanding of the document. Place holders are used to determine where areas of active content should be inserted into the document by the web server. The code which has now been separated from the document mark up is then stored either at the top of the document within script bocks or preferably in a separate file called a Code Behind File. Separating the code into code behind files allows the code to be compiled into a single file stored on the web server ready to service any web requests.
The process for viewing an ASP.Net page is that the end user requests the web page (in this case the ASP.Net document) using a web browser. The request is sent by the web browser across the internet to the web server. The web server receives this request, identifies the document is an ASP.Net document and gathers any dynamic content from the precompiled file. Any instructions are processed in accordance with this file and the results rendered as HTML which is inserted back into the document where the placeholders indicate. This new document is passed back across the internet to the web browser. The web browser receives this file and displays the document content in accordance with the instructions contained within the HTML.
ASP.Net pages can be identified by the file extension .aspx. Conceptually they work along the same lines as conventional ASP pages although the whole process is applied to the .Net Framework. In an ASP.Net page the code is separated from the document mark up; this simplifies the layout and understanding of the document. Place holders are used to determine where areas of active content should be inserted into the document by the web server. The code which has now been separated from the document mark up is then stored either at the top of the document within script bocks or preferably in a separate file called a Code Behind File. Separating the code into code behind files allows the code to be compiled into a single file stored on the web server ready to service any web requests.
The process for viewing an ASP.Net page is that the end user requests the web page (in this case the ASP.Net document) using a web browser. The request is sent by the web browser across the internet to the web server. The web server receives this request, identifies the document is an ASP.Net document and gathers any dynamic content from the precompiled file. Any instructions are processed in accordance with this file and the results rendered as HTML which is inserted back into the document where the placeholders indicate. This new document is passed back across the internet to the web browser. The web browser receives this file and displays the document content in accordance with the instructions contained within the HTML.
One of the great strengths of ASP.Net is that the platform it is capable of rendering different HTML code according to the version and type of browser that made the web request. So ASP.Net can generate different HTML code for different circumstances and this is completed without intervention by the programmer. In theory the programmer prepares the website content and instructs ASP.Net how it should be displayed and then the code generated should be correct for the users platform, whether a standard computer or a third generation mobile telephone device. In practise this is still in its infancy and a programmer needs to be aware of what code will be generated and for what platforms.