Member Avatar for bo0ga

What is meant by it being a "framework"?

I'm reading and trying to learn ASP.NET and basically what I'm seeing is that you either use C# or VB.NET as the programming language for web development. But where is the ASP.NET aspect coming in? Is it just the name of the page type since you're naming the page .asp, and it allows for the use of C# or VB.NET? Or is ASP.NET a programming language itself?

Also, I've read that you can use javascript as the programming language in ASP.NET. But what's the point of this? Can't you use javascript in a regular .html file? Guys I would greatly appreciate any help on this, and I apologize if these questions sound stupid.

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Short answer: ASP.NET is not a new programming language — it’s a server-side web framework that runs on the .NET platform and gives you the runtime, libraries, and tooling to build web pages, APIs, and services. Your C# (or other .NET language) code executes on the server; the framework handles requests, runs your code, and returns plain HTML/CSS/JS to the browser. As pointed out, JavaScript still runs in the browser — ASP.NET just provides server-side structure and helpers. (dotnet.microsoft.com)

What “framework” means in practice: you get a request pipeline, built-in components (routing, authentication, caching), templating (Razor), and multiple programming models (Web Forms, MVC, Razor Pages, Web API). That saves you from wiring everything yourself and helps enforce patterns like separation of concerns and reuse. ASP.NET apps are typically compiled and use languages that target the CLR (C#, F#, VB). (learn.microsoft.com)

About JavaScript: you can and often will use the same client-side JavaScript you use in plain .html files. The difference is that ASP.NET can emit or inject scripts from the server, and you usually call server endpoints (APIs) from client JS for dynamic data. If someone mentioned “JavaScript in ASP.NET” they might mean client-side JS or historical server-side JScript variants — the usual and modern pattern is C# on the server + JS on the client. (dotnet.microsoft.com)

Practical beginner advice: start with C# basics and HTTP concepts, then follow an ASP.NET Core tutorial — Microsoft recommends ASP.NET Core for new projects (it’s cross-platform and actively developed). Try Razor Pages or a minimal API template and use Visual Studio or VS Code + the dotnet CLI to practice. ’s wiki link is fine for background, but the official Microsoft docs and tutorials are the best up-to-date learning path. (dotnet.microsoft.com)

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Member Avatar for JorgeM

ASP.NET is a web development model that includes the services necessary for you to build web applications. Coding ASP.NET applications means you have access to classes in the .NET Framework (libraries). You can code your applications in any language compatible with the common language runtime (CLR), very similar to the concept in Java, including Microsoft VB and C# as you mentioned. So, in an ASP.NET web application, some pages can be coded in VB and others in C#. ASP.NET is not HTML. Your VB or C# code is processed server-side, while JavaScript is still run on the client-side.

So, if you develop an ASP.NET web app, it will contain, at a minimum, HTML code, asp.net code, and of course you'll include CSS for styling and JavaScript and most likely jQuery to help you with some cool client side code.

In the case of an ASP.NET web page, you save the file as .aspx so that when its executed on the web server, the web server passes the request to the ASP.NET engine for processing. What is returned back to the browser is pure HTML. This is the same whether you are coding an .ASP, .PHP, or .JSP file, as an example.

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