Visual Studio's (Dot) Net WorthNot just a new version; a new visionby Nelson King Continued from Page 1 The .Net Framework Class Library and the various compilers are performance hogs that cry out for dedicated (and often specialized) server support. It's not available yet, so exercises in scalability and complexity sometimes remain just that: exercises. Likewise the full complement of services that Microsoft and its many partners have promised aren't available yet. These services, such as those to be provided by Microsoft MyServices, include the verification, security, and transactional features that will be crucial in many enterprise projects. The point is not to dwell on what's missing from the .Net Framework and Visual Studio. Net, because most of it's on the way, but to carefully evaluate products and services that fill out the .Net architecture as they become available over the next year or two.
XML and Web ServicesOne strong impression from working with Visual Studio .Net is that Microsoft got the XML religion early and thoroughly (unlike the late-to-the-party embrace over at Sun Microsystems). In fact there's so much XML, for example, a very large chunk in the .Net Framework Class Library, that I've begun to wonder if Microsoft SQL Server may not find itself wishing to transmogrify into an XML database manager. In any case, XML is at the top of the standards list upon which Visual Studio .Net and Web services in particular are built. In fact, Microsoft steadfastly refers to Web services as "XML Web services." The other key standards are by now familiar: simple object access protocol, universal description, discovery, and integration, and Web services description language. I know that to many people Microsoft's embrace of these "open standards" is suspect, and certainly Microsoft is no stranger to manipulating standards (to that point, watch the dancing occurring around the Web Services Interoperability Organization, or WS-I). Microsoft sees the mixture of its proprietary Windows services and Web services standards as a means for achieving loosely coupled "interoperability" among platforms. This is its competitive posture against the "portability" claims of Java. Defined by CompetitionThe question everybody asks: "Is .Net better than Java (J2EE)?" As a matter of philosophy, resources, and timing, many enterprise shops may need to deal with this question (unless they're large enough to comfortably manage both approaches). There are fundamental differences as well as many similarities, and I expect that many developers will be studying the issue of portability (Java code) vs. interoperability (XML data and multiple languages) for how well either approach plays in the multiplatform enterprise environment. You can expect that the competition is going to be fierce and developers will benefit from it, although amid the arguments and counter-arguments confusion will often reign. You can expect that a battle over standards will be joined, and if one set of standards manages to survive, the entire software development community will win. What you can't expect is a definitive answer to the question of which is better any time soon. Microsoft Visual Studio .Net and the .Net Framework are well thought-out and carefully designed. Software developers will appreciate the accessibility of the .Net Framework Classes (although the learning curve is still very steep), and that building programs within the .Net Framework makes sense. However, .Net is not complete, perfect, or appropriate for everything. The devils are in the details, which I'll explore in Part 2 of this review of Visual Studio .Net Enterprise Architect Edition. To see a screen shot of Visual Studio .Net, click here. Nelson King [nelsonking@earthlink.net] has written nine books on database application programming and has professionally reviewed development tools since 1981. He spends most of his time in the trenches of enterprise software development. RESOURCESASP.Net: www.asp.net
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