1.1. ASP versus ASP.NET

Anytime anything in the technology sector is pitted against an apparent rival, in my opinion, one of two things happens: The elitists from each camp come out claiming that their camp is superior, and a flame war between all the camps ensues (Windows vs. Mac vs. Linux guys, I am looking at you); or, though less frequently, you wind up with an intelligent conversation that points out the strengths and weaknesses of each technology. In my opinion, while ASP.NET is a wonderful technology, it is not (at least not yet) the "be all and end all" of the web development world when compared to its predecessor. The following sections compare and contrast some of the key differences between these two technologies to better illustrate the changes that abound in ASP.NET, but they are by no means meant to be exhaustive. In actuality, the sections only touch on the points that are pertinent to this Wrox Blox.

1.1.1. The Languages

In ASP.NET, as with Classic ASP, you have a few options when it comes to the language that you want to use for developing your web site: VB.NET and C# (pronounced CSharp). This Wrox Blox illustrates the Classic ASP code snippets in VBScript, while all of the ASP.NET code is supplied in C#.