By Tim Daniels
ASP.NET application development is undergoing a paradigm shift that will alter the architectural foundation of application design. Moving application processing from the server to the client is the simplest way to describe this change. More specifically, this means moving user interface centric processes, from the web server to the browser. This change not only affects system architects and website designers, it also changes the way developers design and create browser-based applications. Developers will have to give more consideration to architectural concerns than ever before.
At a technology level, this paradigm shift means that the current ASP.NET application model, based on postbacks and view state, is being replaced with an alternative architectural model. The new model is a combination of technologies focused on enhancing the end user experience in the browser. These technologies include; AJAX, JavaScript, jQuery and Service Oriented Architecture. For the developer, this means that server side controls will give way to AJAX and JavaScript based components running in the browser. Silverlight will also play a major role in this model. The ASP.NET Model View Controller (MVC) design pattern, which eliminates server side controls, also figures prominently in future web-based development.
What is driving such a dramatic shift in ASP.NET application architecture? End users are becoming more and more sophisticated; demanding more from web based applications in terms of content, work flow, graphics, animation, data access and rich interactive experiences. They are also becoming more intolerant of poor response to their requests. Regardless of network latency, architectural limitations and technological limitations, end users are demanding a more responsive web. The solution is to exploit the processing power and data caching capacity of the client, and drive as much processing and data manipulation as possible into the browser, along with reducing the payload size and number of round trips to the server.
The content for this article is based on two books I’ve been studying. Microsoft ASP.NET and AJAX: Architecting Web Applications by Dino Esposito and Developing Service-Oriented AJAX Applications on the Microsoft Platform by Daniel Larson. You will find these to be excellent references as you explore the future of ASP.NET application development. Also, although the spec isn’t yet completely feature-complete, read about what Microsoft has on tap for the upcoming ASP.NET 4.
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