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.NET Defined
Before getting deeply into the subject we will first know how Businesses are related
to Internet, what .NET means to them and what exactly .NET is built upon. As per the
product documentation from a Business perspective, there are three phases of the Internet.
The First phase gets back to the early 1990's when Internet first came into general
use and which brought a big revolution for Businesses. In the First phase of the Internet
Businesses designed and launched their Website's and focused on the number of hits
to know how many customers were visiting their site and interested in their products,
etc. The Second phase is what we are in right now and in this phase Businesses are
generating revenue through Online Transactions. We are now moving into the Third phase
of the Internet where profit is the main priority. The focus here is to Businesses
effectively communicate with their customers and partners who are geographically isolated,
participate in Digital Economy and deliver a wide range of services. How can that
be possible? The answer, with .NET.
What is .NET ?
Many people reckon that it's Microsoft's way of controlling the Internet, which is
false. .NET is Microsoft's strategy of software that provides services to people any
time, any place, on any
device. An accurate definition of .NET is, it's an XML Web
Services platform which allows us to build rich .NET applications, which
allows users to interact with the Internet using wide range of smart devices (tablet
devices, pocket PC's, web phones etc), which allows to build and integrate Web Services
and which comes with many rich set of tools like Visual Studio to
fully develop and build those applications.
What are Web Services?
Web Services are the applications that run on a Web Server and communicate with other
applications. It uses a series of protocols to respond to different requests. The
protocols on which Web Services are built are summarized below:
UDDI: Stands for Universal Discovery and Description Integration.
It's said to be the Yellow Pages of Web Services which allows Businesses to search
for other Businesses allowing them to search for the services it needs, know
about the services and contact them.
WSDL: Stands for Web Services Description Language, often called
as whiz-dull. WSDL is an XML document that describes a set of SOAP messages and how
those messages are exchanged.
SOAP: Stands for Simple Object Access Protocol. It's the communication
protocol for Web Services.
XML, HTTP and SMTP: Stands for
Extensible Markup Language, Hyper Text Transfer Protocol and Simple Message Transfer
Protocol respectively. UDDI, WSDL and SOAP rely on these protocols for communication.
The image below shows the order of the protocols on which Web Services are built:
Example of a Web Services Application
Let's say a customer accesses a Website and buys something. The Web services of the
business will communicate with the inventory system to see if there is enough stock
to fulfill the order. If not, the system can communicate with the suppliers to find
one or all of the parts that make up the order before filling the order. At all stages
the customer will be kept informed via messages. The end result is a seamless system
communicating and exchanging information easily regardless of the platform they are
all running on. The business don't need to worry about going to the wrong supplier
because it asks the Web service running on the supplier system what it does. And the
business doesn't have to worry about the other system's methods of handling data because
they communicate via SOAP and XML.
Real World Application
Microsoft's passport service is an example of a .NET service. Passport is a Web-based
service designed to make signing in to Websites fast and easy. Passport enables participating
sites to authenticate a user with a single set of sign-in credentials eliminating
the need for users to remember numerous passwords and sign-in names. You can use one
name and password to sign in to all .NET Passport-participating sites and services.
You can store personal information in your .NET Passport profile and, if you choose,
automatically share that information when you sign in so that participating sites
can provide you with personalized services. If you use Hotmail for your email needs
then you should be very much familiar with the passport service.
To find out more about how Businesses are implementing Web Services and the advantages
it is providing please visit Microsoft's Website and check out the case studies published.
What is .NET Built On?
.NET is built on the Windows Server System to take major
advantage of the OS and which comes with a host of different servers which allows
for building, deploying, managing and maintaining Web-based solutions. The Windows
Server System is designed with performance as priority and it provides scalability,
reliability, and manageability for the global, Web-enabled enterprise. The Windows
Server System integrated software products are built for interoperability using open
Web standards such as XML and SOAP.
Core Windows Server System Products include :
SQL Server2000: This Database Server is Web enabled and is designed
with priority for .NET based applications. It is scalable, easy to manage and has
a native XML store.
Application Center 2000: This product is designed to manage Web Applications.
Commerce Server 2000: This powerful Server is designed for creating
E-Commerce based applications.
Mobile Information Server: This Server provides real-time access
for the mobile community. Now Outlook users can use their Pocket PC's to access all
their Outlook data while they are moving.
Exchange Server 2000: This is a messaging system Server and allows
applications on any device to access information and collaborate using XML.
BizTalk Server 2000: This is the first product created for .NET which
is XML based and allows to build business process that integrate with other services
in the organization or with other Businesses.
Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2000: This Server provides
Security and Protection for machines. It is an integrated firewall and Web cache server
built to make the Web-enabled enterprise safer, faster, and more manageable.
Host Integration Server 2000: This Server allows for the Integration
of mainframe systems with .NET.
When developing real world projects if you don't know how to use the above mentioned
Server's which are built for .NET based applications do not worry. Your System Administrator
is always there to help you.
.NET and XML
There is a lot of connection between XML and .NET. XML is the glue that holds .NET
together. XML looks similar to HTML which is readable and text-based. XML is
a method of putting structured data into a text file. XML is the specification for
defining the structure of the document. Around this specification a whole family of
optional modules are being developed. The reason why XML is linked so much to .NET
is, it's platform independent and is well supported on any environment. To move the
data contained in an XML file around different organizations using different
software on different platforms it should be packed it into something. That something
is a protocol like SOAP.
About SOAP
SOAP, Simple Object Access Protocol is a simple, lightweight protocol for exchanging
information between peers in a decentralized, distributed environment. It is an XML
based protocol that consists of three parts: an envelop that describes what is in
the message and how it should be processed, a set of encoding rules and a convention
for representing remote procedure calls and responses.
.NET vs Java
Many of us wonder what .NET has to do with Java. Is there any relation between them?
Are they similar? and so on. I even hear some people say .NET is Microsoft's
answer to Java. I think every language has its own pros and cons. Java is one
of the greatest programming languages created by humans. Java doesn't have a
visual interface and requires us to write heaps of code to develop applications.
On the other hand, with .NET, the Framework supports around 20 different
programming languages which are better and focus only on business logic leaving
all other aspects to the Framework. Visual Studio .NET comes with a rich visual
interface and supports drag and drop. Many applications were developed,
tested and maintained to compare the differences between .NET and Java and the end
result was a particular application developed using .NET requires less lines of code,
less time to develop and lower deployment costs along with other important issues.
Personally, I don't mean to say that Java is gone or .NET based applications
are going to dominate the Internet but I think .NET definitely has an extra edge as
it is packed with features that simplify application development.
I hope the information above puts some light on the technology aspects behind .NET
and helps you in getting started.
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