Beginning ASP.NET 3.5 in C# 2008: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition

5.1. The Anatomy of an ASP.NET Application

It's sometimes difficult to define exactly what a web application is. Unlike a traditional desktop program (which users start by running a stand-alone EXE file), ASP.NET applications are almost always divided into multiple web pages. This division means a user can enter an ASP.NET application at several different points or follow a link from the application to another part of the website or another web server. So, does it make sense to consider a website as an application?

In ASP.NET, the answer is yes. Every ASP.NET application shares a common set of resources and configuration settings. Web pages from other ASP.NET applications don't share these resources, even if they're on the same web server. Technically ...