Understanding the ASP.NET Programming Models

This post helps you to decide what programming model is right for you to start writing applications in ASP.NET. Using ASP.NET you can build great web applications. ASP.NET offers three models to build the web applications. The models are

• ASP.NET Web Forms
• ASP.NET MVC
• ASP.NET Web Pages

The three models built on top of ASP.NET core web platform. Each model is ASP.NET. Each model creates and structures the web application in different approach. All these three programming models are having their own significance and each developer can find a value in using those models.

Why there are three choices and how they fit together?

What does ASP.NET Web Forms value?

Web Forms Framework is for the developers who like declarative, control and event based programming. If you come with client-application development back-ground then you can choose this programming model for the development. It provides server side programming framework which enables you to use various server side controls within your HTML Framework and you can encapsulate JavaScript and CSS. It has rich user  interface controls and data-binding controls out-of the box. It is a rapid application development environment for web development. As a SharePoint is developed on top of ASP.NET web forms and if you are a  SharePoint developer that is another reason for you to use Web Forms.

What does ASP.NET MVC value?

ASP.NET MVC is a slightly lower level programming model who interested in test-driven development, separation of concerns design patterns. This programming model basically separates the business logic from its presentation layer.  It does not provide high-level abstractions like control but you require to know HTML and HTTP a little more deeply. It is comfortable for developers who has got some ASP.NET web development experience. It gives the developer total control on HTML that you render and URL that you expose in your application. It also has got great support for unit-testing and supports test-driven development for your web applications. MVC encourages strong design patterns and application architectures.

What does ASP.NET Web Pages value?

ASP.NET Web Pages is a simple programming model that built around individual pages. It is easy for the developers to pick up and learn. It uses the same Razor syntax that MVC does but it uses in-line script rather than separate control classes. Web pages gives the developer full control over the generated mark-up. However Web Pages does not contain a page lifecycle like Web Form does. You can generally think of ASP.NET Web Pages as executing top-to-bottom. It does not have events like page_load and page_render events.

All the programming models share their libraries with the core runtime. It is up to you to choose the programming model, sometimes programmers use Web Pages for rapid prototyping and then move to MVC.

To get start the development with Web Pages then download WebMartrix from here This friendly IDE will help you to develop web sites quickly and easily in minutes. If you are ready to move to develop power full tool and start creating Web Forms or MVC applications then download Visual Studio Express for free from here.

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