ASP.NET Extensions Previewed

ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions, a set of add-ons to ASP.NET available in a preview release, could make it easier to build Web applications that access databases and could help Microsoft deal with the growing popularity of the Rails application framework. Other features of the ASP.NET Extensions include better support for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) and Silverlight. The additions illustrate the continue importance of ASP.NET to Microsoft’s Web efforts and could help developers build more maintainable data-driven Web applications.

Extending Data Access

ASP.NET is an important part of Microsoft’s developer platform: besides being a key part of the company’s Web platform, it also serves as an important entry point into .NET development. For many developers, their first taste of .NET programming is in the context of ASP.NET.

Because Web applications are frequently used to provide browser-based access to corporate database and information systems, access to data is a critical piece of ASP.NET.