Talk on ASP.NET

Question

A friend of mine's company is considering using either Java or ASP.NET for web development. Currently they do all development in Delphi. As they have no experience in .NET they have asked me to come down and give a 1 hour overview of .NET (mainly ASP.NET). What topics should I cover?

Answer 1

There is so much to cover!

ASP.Net is better for Web Development though, It is designed for it. Take into account the following features:

• Membership Provider
• ASP.Net controls
• The Whole Page and Code-Behind system and don't forget ASP.Net MVC
• ASP.Net Ajax and support for jQuery
• ASP.Net peforms well generally, not sure about Java though
• Use .Net Librarys and languages, C# or VB.Net and so on.
• Many Many more

I would cover those, the way ASP.Net is designed as a much more complete package for web development than Java is. I also think the connection between pages and code is better in ASP.Net than using PHP/Java or how ever they would do it.

Can also switch to Winforms or other MS technologies relatively easily.

Answer 2

Other than the other suggestions you are no doubt going to get, I'd explain to them that there is a Delphi for .NET which would ease the pain of change a little. So basically they are using Delphi as the language but the underpinnings of .NET.

Answer 3

You might want to talk to your regional developer evangelist. I'm sure they have a stack of bullet points for instances just like this.

You can find your local evangelist(s) at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/bb905078.aspx

Answer 4

Not sure if you're planning to give more of an architectural view or a more of hands-on experience (say, build a demo Hello World ASP.NET site), but anyway, here are some topics that might get them interested:

• .NET covers many languages (C#, VB.NET, IronPython, IronRuby, Delphi.NET), even on the same solution; that means the developers can reuse some of their previous knowledge;
• To support the item above, an overview of the CLR, IL etc might be useful, maybe comparing it a bit with how Java works
• Visual Studio.NET is a great IDE, and there are lots of tools for it that support the latest best practices (TDD, IoC etc), including OSS
• Could be also nice to mention Mono (maybe show them the same app running on Windows, MAc and Linux?) and ASP.NET MVC, in case your teammates have some knowledge of what MVC, RoR are about

I will think some more... :)

Answer 5

If they do want to explore C# the transition is pretty easy. Just remind them that Anders Hejlsberg was the Chief Architect of Delphi and C#.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Hejlsberg

I was a VB.net guy, but I took a one year Delphi gig a few years back. When I came back to .Net I was using C# and the transition was very easy.

Answer 6

I was hired by a Delphi product company as a senior .NET developer with the goal of moving their applications from Delphi client server/desktop apps to web based ASP.NET.

I no longer work there but remain friends with an experienced Delphi programmer who is still there.

The biggest concern you have is ensuring that these Delphi programmers start to get their heads around the fundamental shift from desktop client server apps (very common using Delphi) to web based stateless, cross browser UI ASP.NET.

My friend from the previous company has said that the company is still struggling along with minimal .NET progress after 2 years. Technologies such as XML, Javascript, AJax and even fundamentals such as the .NET CLR and assemblies are still a bit of a mystery to the team.

In summary, if I was you I would be focusing entirely on bigger concepts such as the stateless nature of the web and how ASP.NET can solve it, and the benefits and drawbacks of thin client software (ie ease of deployment, browser incompatibilies, less rich user interfaces etc.)

Answer 7

First off I'd give them a tour of creating a simple web app using Visual Studio and whatever the equivalent would be in Java. Seeing it done speaks a lot more than just giving the theory.