One of the most important things to understand about custom software development is that you don't just need a solution that will support your business over the short-term. Yes, addressing the challenges of today is always critical - but equally so is your ability to develop a solution that will continue to grow and evolve as your business does the same. One that will allow you to remain agile enough to better prepare yourself for the challenges of the next ten years - and beyond.
Because of that, you need an industrial strength web development platform - one that will remain viable for at least the next decade, if not longer. That, in essence, is why the ASP.NET framework is so important. When executed properly, an ASP.NET enterprise system both supports the business you are today and the one you hope you'll evolve into just a few short years down the line. Having said that, this process does require you to keep a few essential things in mind so that you can enjoy all of the benefits with as few of the potential downsides as possible.
Why ASP.NET Matters
Especially given the fast-paced modern era that we're now living in, companies have a need to build custom software solutions that can support their businesses in a way that is both robust and easily supportable.
These types of IT solutions need to be able to function well in both web and mobile environments, all while taking full advantage of modern advancements like cloud computing.
But most critically, solutions need to give you a competitive advantage - and one that will last for more than just a year or two.
That is essentially why the ASP.NET framework is the best option to meet your needs moving forward. ASP.NET is constantly evolving to address the latest IT challenges, all while providing you with a nimble solution that can grow to meet your ever-changing company needs. And since it was developed by Microsoft, you can rest assured that the technology will be here for the long term.
ASP.NET CORE is the new version of ASP.NET, which runs on every major computing platform including Microsoft Windows, Apple's MacOS and Linux. This gives you a competitive advantage thanks to the fact that you can support those platforms, regardless of how they themselves continue to change over time.
The Benefits of ASP.NET: Breaking Things Down
By far, one of the biggest benefits that the ASP.NET framework brings to the table has to do with high speed. ASP.NET has been highly optimized for maximum performance, offering you the ability to take advantage of servers with multiple CPUs and even advancements like multi-threading.
Unlike PHP, ASP.NET is compiled and not interrupted - allowing it to run much faster than competing solutions. Likewise, because PHP is not pre-compiled, even something as simple as a misplaced semicolon can lead to syntax errors slipping into production and causing things to crash at the worst possible moment.
ASP.NET is also important because it allows you to spend less time coding since it is built on the .NET Framework library of tools. These pre-built objects can be used by a programmer, saving them the time and hassle needed to write code from scratch. All objects are also fully documented, with examples of code using them found all across the Internet. This makes tackling even the most complex problems a snap.
Object-oriented programming languages like C# and VB.NET can also be used to develop well organized applications that are equal parts scalable and easy to maintain. Object Oriented Programming models and their complex objects are also reproducible, simple structures. This means that those objects can be used across a multitude of different applications. They're also more secure, leading to fewer programming errors.
A Forward-Thinking Approach to Software Development
It's equally important to point out that ASP.NET is also now open source. This means that it creates a community of development, all in the name of enhancing the framework well beyond what Microsoft may have done. This innovation - built on the foundation of collaboration - is a strategic advantage for any company adopting this platform.
Another one of the major reasons why ASP.NET is so beneficial has to do with the low costs associated with the development environment. It's easy to get started with just the free version of the IDE (Integrated Development Environment) Visual Studio, at which point you can then move onto a licensed version with the full suite of tools.
ASP.NET is also designed from the ground up to work incredibly well with SQL Server, which is Microsoft's own industrial strength database system that many notable corporations rely on. This means that writing even complex database applications has truly never been easier.
ASP.NET CORE is also a cross-platform framework, which means that its applications can work on a wide range of operating systems as outlined above. This is important, as you always want to be able to support multiple platforms - but now you can do so without creating multiple versions of your applications which you then have to maintain.
The Integrated Development Environment, also known as IDE, has a built-in debugger as well. This, along with a multitude of other tools, are made to make a programmer's life far easier. It enables faster debugging and smoother software development as well.
Sophisticated Tools in the Palm of Your Hand
ASP.NET is also notable for supporting cloud-based development. Applications can take full advantage of Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS cloud services in a way that allows you to future-proof your solutions moving forward. Both MVC (Model-View-Controller) and Web API are integrated into the development environment, and it's easy to use this platform to develop native mobile solutions that run on mobile devices. Both Angular and React can be used with the ASP.NET platform, for example.
But one of the biggest advantages that ASP.NET brings with it has to do with how a developer can easily choose from a multitude of third party tools to enhance their solution's performance. Telerik, for example, is a toolkit with prebuilt widgets that are ready for a programmer's use. Other examples include but are not limited to ones like:
- Telerik offers a complete set of ASP.NET Core UI components that supercharge any ASP.NET project and create a stunning, responsive user interface.
- Devexpress, which offers UI widgets similar in concept to Telerik. They provide 70+ high-performance, responsive ASP.NET Core UI components. It also includes a feature-complete Reporting tool.
- ASP.NET Core Blazor, allows you to build interactive web USER INTERFACES using C# instead of JavaScript. Both the client and the server code are fully written in C#, which is great for allowing you to share both code and libraries as needed.
- Infragisitics, is a collection of controls for ASP.NET Core. The Ignite UI product is a complete UI library of 100+ controls, including data grids, charts, and UI controls, giving you the ability to build lightweight and modular, enterprise web apps.
| - Nuget Packages offer the ability to both produce and consume custom packages as needed. NuGet is the package manager for .NET and ASP.NET. The NuGet client tools provide the ability to produce and consume packages. The NuGet Gallery is the central package repository used by all package authors and consumers.
- Web Essentials for Visual Studio. This Visual Studio Extension alone makes the lives of developers much simpler by adding critical features that are absent from Visual Studio, thus opening up an inventory of CSS, HTML, JavaScript, TypeScript, CoffeeScript or LESS - along with several other useful features that make development easier.
- ReSharper. This is an innovative tool that offers features that target code quality analysis. Not only can it help you quickly identify problems in code, but it also solves them automatically - all so that you can focus on those matters that are more important. Its automated, solution-wide code refactoring helps in changing the code base as well. It is extremely beneficial when it comes to modernizing legacy code, or even with regards to your project's structure.
All of these tools are hugely beneficial, as they free up as much of your valuable time as possible so you can focus on those matters that truly need your attention. If you want to have spreadsheet-like capabilities on a web page, for example, there is a control for that which you can simply plug in and start using right away. Not only do you avoid having to spend the time developing it yourself, but it's also guaranteed to be cross-browser compliant.
In the end, companies face a pressing need to start with the latest and greatest technologies instead of the older tech from yesteryear - which is why ASP.NET is and will remain critically important in the IT industry. When you consider everything outlined above, along with the rich market of third party ASP.NET productivity tools, it's beyond clear that this is the best development platform for modern enterprise applications - end of story.
To find out more information about our ASP.NET software development outsourcing capabilities, or if you’d like to discuss your ASP.NET needs with Keene Systems CEO, Lance Keene click here to book a call with him. You can also download our great new eBook - Why ASP.NET Development Services Fuels Business Growth - to learn more about this essential topic.
