What is the difference between C# and ASP.NET?

ASP.NET it's one thing and C# is another.

ASP.NET it is a Microsoft web framework, designed to allow developers to create web pages faster and more dynamically.

C# is a programming language, also developed by Microsoft, that can be used for various purposes, from games and desktop applications, to how to write applications for the ASP.NET.

It is worth noting that ASP.NET it also accepts Visual Basic as a language for application script.

This Wikipedia article explains a little more (and more concisely) what I wrote in this answer.

C # is a language (+compiler).

It defines the language syntax (for/foreach loops, switch, class declaration, generics , etc.) and defines some native types(int, string, etc).

.NET is a framework and a runtime (for C # and VB.NET), a set of classes that helps in the development of any application: List<T>, Linq extensions, etc, usually under the namespace System.*. There are some versions different from .NET specialized for some platforms: .NET for XNA, .NET for Windows Phone, .NET for Windows Store apps.

WinForms, ASP.NET, WinRT, WPF, WCF and everything else, are other frameworks . Each helps in the development of applications of a specific area. WPF adds type classesLabel, TextBox, etc-while ASP.NET adds HttpContext, for example.

C # is the Programming Language . How is JavaScript, Java, C, PHP, etc. It allows you to write codes that will be, in one way or another, executed by the computer. There is a specific syntax and semantics defined in specification and implemented in a compiler.

This language was created to be used on top of a specific platform called CLR, which is a virtual machine. It is a software that simulates a computer and has rules own operating. With it you can better control what the software running on it does. It becomes easier to port the code to real physical platforms (other processors and computer architectures). With CLR it is easier to produce reliable and flexible code and it is possible to give more security. Languages running on top of the CLR compile to a common assembler language called CIL .

The CLR normally runs on a framework called .NET , created by Microsoft. But it can run on other compatible ones, like the Mono , for example. Today there are several versions of .NET, each with its own peculiarity to better meet the needs of the developer and user of the end application (but it is everything being unified in one thing). In addition to the runtime that controls the virtual machine, garbage collector, and other platform functions, there are the libraries and subframeworks where the various algorithms and data structures used by C#are located. Some of these internal frameworks or .Net attachments are quite complex and although they perform specific tasks, they are quite large .

Is framework cannot be confused with the programming language. Of course C# was used to write most of it and it is necessary for the language to work, but it is things distinct, despite their interdependence.

Knowing what is a framework makes it easier to understand what is ASP.NET. it is a set of codes that perform a specific task in an integrated manner. It is responsible for manipulating web pages in .NET. there are the variations ASP.NET classic (or WebForms) and the ASP.NET MVC which is more modern and currently preferred by most developers.

Other frameworks are used for other tasks, including access to desktop there are competitors within .NET itself, such as WinForms, WPF and WinRT, each with its own characteristic.

We saw that the ASP.NET it is just a technology used in the ecosystem of the platform commonly called .NET. it cannot be confused as a programming language, as many do. It has no syntax of its own. Although both the ASP.NET classic, as the ASP.NET MVC have page rendering engines that have a markup and code inclusion syntax, such as Razor .

ASP is a technology for creating web pages created anates of existing .NET. it should no longer be used for a number of reasons, but mainly because it does not have full support by the vendor, Microsoft.

Is often called Classic ASP not to be confused with ASP.NET, since the confusion is common.

Among the many limitations:

• ASP uses the old Visual Basic in uncompiled, pre- scripts VB.NET and does not allow another language, such as in .NET which allows, in thesis, any language supported in CLR
• several improvements to error handling, events, and other programming techniques, such as caching, are not available
• the amount of libraries available is much more limited and the ones that exist do not have the same quality
• development methodology considered obsolete and difficult to maintain
• there are conceptual, memory manipulation and session control problems

I strongly advise to follow all the links above and if possible see the English Wikipedia pages that are better. From there continue following the most relevant links. There's a lot to learn.

Everything becomes kind of stale. Be speaking of outdated technologies, it has a link above that shows the modern path of what should go now.

ASP.NET it is, briefly, a front-end for Web platform, in the same way that Windows Forms or WPF is also a front-end platform for desktop platform.

The language used in ASP.NET it is only for design, while it can be used VB.NET or C# as code-behind.

Asp.Net or Active Server Pages .NET is the new version of ASP that meets the Microsoft Framework. however it is possible to program in vb.net together with the asp.net. not only C#.

C # is a programming language designed to" run " under the .NET framework. The Framework also allows you to write code VB.Net and F#, some older versions had even J# .

ASP Net came to replace the obsolete ASP and came along with the new Microsoft proposal at the time that was the .NET Framework

ASP.NET it is a "template" language that allows you to write an HTML page with replacement directives that will be post-processed by generating a C# program or VB.NET depending on how it is configured. You could get the same result purely by writing in C # or VB.NET and using directives to issue HTML but ASP.NET it makes this process easier because it provides this processor (from which you can easily get the file .CS or.vb when running site).

C # is one of the programming languages supported by the .NET framework, just that.

C # = > Programming Language.

ASP ~ > = > technology.

ASP.Net = > technology using the .NET Framework.

.NET => Framework.