Introduction

As you no doubt already know, ASP.NET is Microsoft’s next-generation technology for creating server-side web applications. It’s built on the Microsoft .NET Framework, which is a cluster of closely related new technologies that revolutionize everything from database access to distributed applica-tions. ASP.NET is one of the most important components of the .NET Framework—it’s the part that enables you to develop high-performance web applications.

It’s not hard to get developers interested in ASP.NET. Without exaggeration, ASP.NET is the most complete platform for web development that’s ever been put together. It far outclasses its pre-decessor, ASP, which was designed as a quick-and-dirty set of tools for inserting dynamic content into ordinary web pages. By contrast, ASP.NET is a full-blown platform for developing comprehen-sive, blisteringly fast web applications.

In this book, you’ll learn everything you need to master ASP.NET 3.5. If you’ve programmed with a previous version of ASP.NET, you can focus on new features such as LINQ (Chapter 13), ASP.NET AJAX (Chapter 32), and Silverlight (Chapter 33). If you’ve never programmed with ASP.NET, you’ll find that this book provides a well-paced tour that leads you through all the fundamentals, along with a backstage pass that lets you see how the ASP.NET internals really work. The only requirement for this book is that you have a solid understanding of the C# language and the basics of .NET. If you’re a seasoned Java or C++ developer but you’re new to C#, you may find it easier to start with a book about .NET fundamentals, such as Pro C# 2008 and the .NET 3.5 Platform, by Andrew Troelsen (Apress, 2007).