What's a simple rampup: ASP.net or WCF?
I am currently meeting with winforms but want to write an application where users will have LAN / WAN between them and the database.
So, assuming I need to use WCF, if I'm sticking with winforms as the UI, or go to ASP.net and go to the website, THEN, which of these two approaches will become a simpler rampup Approach me?
Note. You must use the Entity Framework.
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You are comparing apples to oranges here. ASP.NET is a complete web application framework (or more accurately, two of them are WebForms and MVC). WCF is a set of services and supporting architecture are two very different sets of features and capabilities.
ASP.NET and web development present their own challenges, along with the promise of some benefits too, of course. Webforms tries to be pretty close to Winforms - with the components you drag and drop on the form, the events you hook up, etc. ASP.NET MVC takes a Model-View-Controller approach and tries to be closer to the HTML metam and gives you more control over your HTML / CSS markup.
If you are using WCF and / or WCF Data Services and encapsulate all business logic, data validation, and data access in separate assemblies, you can always fork and add the ASP.NET web interface to your solution later.
Learning how to use WCF and WCF Data Services definitely does not block you in a position where you cannot go and use ASP.NET (like ASP.NET Web Forms or like ASP.NET MVC) as the front end for that decision.
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Winforms binds access only to Windows machines.
ASP.Net gives you access to the entire OS, including devices such as mobile phones with browsers, etc.
Plus, ASP.Net already has some pretty solid built-in security. For WCF you need to create your own layer ... I mean even if encryption / reliability etc. They exist, but you still need to implement them effectively.
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