Web Application Development With ASP - What is Web Application?

To begin.. Let's define what is a Web Application?

A Web Application is different from a Static Web Site.

Static Web Site
A static web site can be easily created by using simple HTML coding in a text editor or any web authoring tools. These static pages are first uploaded into a web server and upon a request from the client browser the server will send the pages to the client-end. The client’s browsers will display the pages.

A static web site is usually,
§ Designed to encourage browsing and exploring.
§ Provide information that has been pre-built and can be stored in a static HTML files.
§ User can navigate from one page to another using the hyper links in the pages.


Web Application
Web applications are programs that are built to perform a specific task or purpose over the internet or intranet, usually interactive. Examples are on-line shopping, electronic banking, gaming and course registration and etc.

Server-side scripting language, e.g. ASP, ASPX, PHP, JAVA, Perl and etc is required to control the different responses depending on end-user’s request. Features includes,

§ It is developed to suit a specific user. Examples are on-line shoppers or system administrator.
§ Authentication and tracking of a user is normally required for security reasons.
§ Dynamic (serves up-to-date information, not static HTML files and responses.)
§ A backend databases are normally required in an application.