.NET Migration

[nder]

My company would like to migrate development from ASP to .NET. So us developers are supposed to prepare a document outlining the advantages, drawbacks, migration conciderations, etc. As it stands, I think it is a agood move only for the fact that we will be leaving ASP behind. I dont like ASP, I dont like developing in ASP. However, I'm not particularly fond of MS. I've heard a whole deal of good things about .NET. But I'm still skeptical. MS has a history of destroying things that start out good. I think moving to the Java platform would be a nicer solution. Everyone here is going to have to be trained in .NEt which is nothing like what we use now. So moving to either would be a big change in any case. I'll talk to my manager about that and figure out why they want .NET.

But my complaints aside, what I'm interested in is how to create a document to present to the department manager. I have no experience in this regard. And have any of you actually been through a migration process? Your input would be welcome. Additionally, how could I sell Java over .NET?

[death_knight]

The .Net frame work very good from what i'm reading, it was a re-think on the entire development approach that was previously taken by micro-soft, i dont know that much about ASP.NET but from the lil reaseach i was doing the other day, it seems it has some cool features.

Firstly ASP.NET wasn't only the next level of asp which would be 4.0 it was a complete re-think/ re-desing of the ASP.NET Technolgoy. With .NET ASP has a a wider variety of function classes to call from (i'm thinking ne function that is within .NET). ASP aslo allows you to script in a langauge of your preference; so if your used to vb, you could vbscript, if c/c++ then you could use c#, if java then javascript etc. this is only allowed based on the fact that asp uses a technology simple to java but more optimized, the just in time compilation where the script is compiled (not parsed) only when it is needed. The script (written in the programmers preference) is compiled to MSIL Microsoft Intermediate langauge (i hope i didn't get that accronym definition wrong). this is the common langauge that is then executed on the server. This just in time compilation i think is a better solution that the java platforms because they compile the entire source which puts more strain on the system as compared to ASP.NET.

Now I've never been through the migration process of asp in an organization.. heck i've only been doing WebDev as an occupation for like a month now. So I'm just able to shed a lil light on what i know of .NET and ASP.NET I'll probably post more later, hope it was helpful, if not oh well i tried.

[delly_jm]

Greetings, my company did some amount of this a while ago.

The first thing that you guys will need to do is a course on understanding the .NET Framework. The framework is huge with sweet functionality and it's all OO. Forget about calling those nasty APIs with declare statements etc.

I am/was a Java Developer, so migrating to .NET Framework has not been difficult and it shouldn't be for u if u're a C++ person.

The great thing about the framework also is the fact that you have a ton of languages out there that target the framework. So you can code in C#, C++, VB.NET, COBOL (YES COBOL)...name it there's a language for it. Framework is language independent, think of it as Microsoft's version of the JRE.

Please check http://msdn.microsoft.com search for ASP to ASP.NET migration

Delton

[death_knight]

The first thing that you guys will need to do is a course on understanding the .NET Framework.

True prepare for a lot of reading cause this frame work is a whole new world within it self, and its also good to know ADO.NET

it's all OO.

Very true, finally c++ people can't laugh at vb developers, .NET has made this language completely and finally a True object oreinted language

think of it as Microsoft's version of the JRE.
Delton

Thats precisicely what it seems like but with an edge/ bit of optimization.

[nder]

Thanks for the input so far guys. I am familiar with the framework, and the breadth of choice it offers. I also know thats it is OO, and that I like. I am fmailiar with C/C++ and Java, so OO is not a problem. The technical aspect of it is not my worry right now. Its the business aspect of it. I need to convince the managers that our 500MHz and 600MHz computers are not suitable for developing .NET. I have to make sure they understand the learning curve associated with it. I need to explain clearly the transitioning process. I am currently reading MS migration document, I found that yesterday. Also found some other case studies on it.

Right now, what I really need is the following:

1. Input from developers/managers who have done .NET migration. I need to know how you did it, and the problems that you had.

2. A document template for formal presentation to the mangers.

3. Input from anyone that sucessfuly convinced their company to use Java instead of .NET

Thanks.

[nder]

Framework is language independent, think of it as Microsoft's version of the JRE.

Java is platform independent, and in this respect the .NET framework is not comparable to Java or the JRE.

[editor]

We had that issue to confront over 4 years ago; we went with Java. Since then the landscape has changed significantly.

Here are some points we considered.
1. Vendor independence.
2. The ability to separate concerns using existing frameworks.
3. Cost to some extent.


I will try to get more information on this and get back to you.
Sorry to say that depending on the app you may need to upgrade your app-servers

[nder]

The Applications server has already been upgraded. Brand new Dell, dual procs, RAIDed RAM, Win2K3.

[editor]

Further, we did move some apps to .Net and others to Java.

As I remeber it now the largest part of the decision came down to buy-in. You need to get buy in from all stake holders.

[SQLDBA]

A decision like this should not be determined by the developers like or dislike of a platform it should be determined by the advantages the firm will gain by using the platform of choice.If you building apps for multiple platforms then end the discussion go with Java.but the fact that you were using ASP tells me that you guys build windows based apps and as such the decision is more complex, what type of apps you build small apps or enterprise apps ?.
Your infrastructure is windows based and i would stick with that from a business point of view,technology in todays world should support and improve existing business functions,it should not chart the course of the business !.
Empirical analysis of both platforms shows that Java is easier to deploy while .Net has the Dataset and is easier to synchronize.