What is the .NET framework, exactly?

[squishy]

I understand that it has both server-side and client-side uses? But client side obviously depends on visitors installation.

But what is it?

How is ASP.NET different from ASP. How is ANYTHING different from ANYTHING.NET?

I know this is a very very generic question... but it needs to be answered. No point learning it if I dont know its virtues and benefits over other technology. Everyone here discusses specifics about .NET but I still havent figured out what it is.

[chazzy]

.NET is a set of APIs for building applications. It can help you build platform independent applications by compiling the code you write in several language into bytecode that is interpretted by a common language runtime (CLR). its core gives you controls for building desktop apps while the ASP.NET add-on allows you to build web based applications. it's primarily supported on windows by microsoft and has a linux port sponsored by novell under the title "project mono"

[tattooedscorpdc]

Another way to think of the .NET framework as a large library of code that prevents common programming problems and a virtual machine that manages the execution of programs written specifically for the framework. Each iteration of the framework is additive, meaning that new solutions are added to the framework for programming ease... Such as AJAX functionality was added to ASP.NET in 3.5.... this means that .NET 2.0 will run under the 3.5 vm. 4.0 is shipping soon and has even more functionality for RIA Development like Silverlight programming

Larry D
MS Architect Evangelist

[StimTech]

I understand that it has both server-side and client-side uses? But client side obviously depends on visitors installation.

ASP.NET is a client-server technology. Only its server part is .NET-based. The client part runs in any browser and does not require / use .NET.
How is ASP.NET different from ASP.

Both ASP and ASP.NET are client-server frameworks. In both the server role is to receive clients requests, perform back-end processing (e.g. database updates) and generate / download to the client markups (HTML), and other resources (scripts, images etc.).

The fundamental difference is in implementation of the server framework. In ASP application (server) code is a script that is interpreted by ASP scripting host. In ASP.NET application (server) code is compiled to .NET language and is executed by .NET runtime.

You can look at .NET as a virtual machine with its own runtime and libraries. In ASP.NET libraries and languages are much richer and enable faster development cycle.

-Vadim Kleyzit