Beginning step 2 on ASP.NET 2.0
I can't certainly say today that I know most of the things that must be known about ASP.NET 2.0. Sure I have a book out there that claims to introduce you to the new platform (and it actually does it...) and I also have written quite a few articles on various aspects of the platform, and am speaking at conferences and delivering some classes, and so on...
However, the more I interact with the new platform the more I feel I have to contrast one of the slogans of ASP.NET 2.0--Cut out coding by an amazing 70%.
That's true for some scenarios--probably the best cases. At school, however, they taught me to always consider the worst case first, and often mostly that. So what about ASP.NET 2.0?
Point #1. We'll keep on writing code for the foreseeable future. We'll just change the outer envelope of the code. No more inline code embedded in pages; much less code in code-behind classes; perhaps slimmer custom controls. I'm led to think that we'll write much more components: ad hoc, strongly focused controls and classes with a fixed, well-known set of interfaces. All in all, it won't probably be that amazing 70%. In any case, a quantum leap forward. In the right direction.
Point #2. The provider model will impact applications much more than many seem to think today. To take advantage of new controls (and related features) and to suck most of the flexibility of the provider model, you may need to rearchitect your apps. I'm not at all sure you'll end up throwing code away; you'll write code for this though.
Point #3. Localization is much much easier and really requires much less code. Also applications that make heavy use of resources get simplified in 2.0. Resource management is just great. The possibility of FINALLY writing a control that carries all required images and doesn't required scattered files here and there is enough to make (and keep) me just HAPPY.