Visual Studio® 2010 and .NET 4, Six-in-one

Chapter 15. ASP.NET Version History

As the first chapter of the ASP.NET part of the book, this chapter traces the history of ASP.NET, and provides information on all the different versions that have evolved through the years. To understand the evolution of ASP.NET, a good starting point might be where it all began — the birth of the World Wide Web.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE WEB AND WEB DEVELOPMENT

Today, most people are unable to imagine their everyday lives without cell phones and the Internet. But life was very different even just a few years ago, when neither the Internet nor cell phones were around. Effective long-distance communication has always been important. Some people may remember stories about letters wandering weeks or months en route from the sender to the recipient, sometimes being carried by homing pigeons or stagecoaches. Even the dissemination of news and messages was a difficult thing to do efficiently — cave paintings, posters, newspapers, town criers, and so on, all attempted to spread the news and information to all people.

Ancient civilizations had their own unique ways of communicating with one another. The first concept of an "Information Highway" in Europe was conceived by a surgeon who wanted to create a process to teach and share new medical techniques in the Middle Ages. Unfortunately, the concept was thought of as blasphemy by the Church, and the surgeon was beheaded for witchery.

In the modern ages, Tim Berners-Lee, an independent contractor of the European Organization ...