Writing ASP.Net and SPS Web Parts -- why so complicated???

[Alex]

This is probably a moot point, but why is developing websites under the
Microsoft methodology so complicated??? I'm coming under the Microsoft
umbrella because we recently purchased the Microsoft Enterprise license
and we'd like to utilize Sharepoint Portal Server -- but to write Web
Parts to SPS I have to use ASP.Net Framework... and to do that I have
to learn VB.Net or C#, and to do that efficiently I have to use Visual
Studio.Net and have a Windows 2003 Server to develop stuff on since our
web server is Windows 2K3.

Why so complicated??? What advantages do I have over using something
like PHP or ColdFusion? Why doesn't MS just stick with a simple
web-based scripting language that doesn't require tons of hoops to jump
through?

Many years ago I set out to learn ASP but dropped it in favor if PHP
and ColdFusion since ASP just seemed over complicated. Now it just
seems well past complicated and almost rediculous.

Just curious. So to write what I thought would be simple add-ins to
Sharepoint Portal I'm looking at getting a development Windows 2003
Server, Visual Studio.Net, and learning either VB.Net or C#, then .Net
Framework, and then learning how all this ties back into Sharepoint
Portal. Geez!

Sam

 

[Steve B.]

It is comparable with automobile...

You want to go to holidays, any "simple" car should be ok, since "it
drives".
You want to race grand prices, you will have a formula one, and all bundled
problems.

Microsoft ASP.Net and others technologies are designed for high performances
and high maintenability, at the cost, it's true, of a higher learning
cursus.
But when you reach a certain ceil (and it is not very difficult for any any
developper to reach it), building robust apps with high perf is so much
easy. The operating systems and the class library of the .Net framework
provide a quite huge set of functionnalities. And with VS 2005, every member
of a project (even non technical) can use it to see what's up.
Beside, with PHP or other "simple" technologies, you will have to deal with
custom frameworks, potentials codin errors (php is very less readable than a
good programmed c# application) and lots of files to include.

To resume, PHP and other technologies are not bad at all, but they does not
target same audience and same type of application.

I suggest you to take the time of building a simple site (start using
www.asp.net starters kits). You can also follow a offical course (but it's
not free).
Knowing both types of technologies is really a good thing, since you can
objectively compare them for most of the case you will encounter.

Hope it helps,
Steve