[Mono-list] server-sided concepts in Mono / ASP.NET vs. Java EE

[Kristian Rink]

[resent as posting through gmame obviously doesn't work when not subscribed
to the list as well]


Folks;

sorry if maybe this is a stupid question, nevertheless so far I don't know
of any smarter way to answer this: Being a Java EE developer most of the
time (and, for that matters, focused on the server / backend infrastructure
side of the game), I just happened to have a look at Mono a few days ago,
mainly out of personal interest.

However, so far I feel pretty much "lost" in here, mostly lacking experience
and knowledge regarding general concepts in the "server sided Mono" world.
Maybe someone could enlighten me here a bit:

- In Java EE, I am sort of used to write code, pack both my compiled code
and additional resources (images, XML, whatever) into a .war or .jar file
and have this deployed to my application server, same way being capable of
undeploying / replacing it in case I changed something or just want the
application to be removed altogether. As this has proven to be rather useful
(both in terms of reducing server downtime and, of course, in terms of
providing an application as an "independent package" easily to be dumped to
some running server), I wonder whether the Mono / .NET world offers a
similar concept?

- In most situations, I try my best to keep things separated, in most cases
making use of EJBs (or Spring beans) for backend / business logic and
something like JSPs, JSFs, ... for providing user interfaces. (How) Can I
have a separation of concerns like this in a Mono based server sided
application? Talking about this, does anyone have any experiences using the
Springframework.NET atop Mono?

- Talking about database integration, does Mono offer features like O/R
mapping or container managed persistence to store / retrieve domain objects
off a backend database system? Furthermore, does Mono know about something
like an "application server" in the  Java EE terminology (as a container
providing support for things like persistence, transaction, messaging, ...)?

- Generally, are there any tutorials or comparisons addressing these
questions out there on-line?

Sorry to bother you with this, and thanks in advance for any replies.
Best regards,
Kristian