What are the advantages of using asp over PHP or CGI script. If I were to invent in learning a programming language which one would be more valuable. I'm more on the design end now but I want to expand my skills and can't figure out what language would be more valuable to know when looking for work.
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advantages
- Thread starter janet24
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ASP.NET would be the most marketable skill I would think. ASP is obsolete, that is the Microsoft way. Microsoft is the ocean we swim in.
CGI means PerlScript essentially and that is a little old and generally limited to Unix, though we use ActivePerl on Windows, but mainly because there have been deep geeks working here that liked Perl. PHP is available both ways, Windows and Unix, but since it is free, it tends to be used by individuals and organizations with low budgets, and who wants to work for them.
Why not scan some job sites and see what skills are most commonly mentioned.
CGI means PerlScript essentially and that is a little old and generally limited to Unix, though we use ActivePerl on Windows, but mainly because there have been deep geeks working here that liked Perl. PHP is available both ways, Windows and Unix, but since it is free, it tends to be used by individuals and organizations with low budgets, and who wants to work for them.
Why not scan some job sites and see what skills are most commonly mentioned.
I disagree that ASP is obsolete. Unless several million (at a rough guess) web pages are suddenly going to stop working, ASP will be around for quite some time yet.
That being said, I still think I would recommend ASP.NET if you're planning on doing web programming. It is the "newest thing".
Tracy Dryden
Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.![[dragon]](/data/assets/smilies/dragon.gif "[dragon] [dragon]")
That being said, I still think I would recommend ASP.NET if you're planning on doing web programming. It is the "newest thing".
Tracy Dryden
Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.
I also disagree tat ASP is obsolete. As Sheco pointed out the skills from writing ASP are transferable to other areas.
At the same time, the skills in writing PHP are equally transferable.
PHP does have a command-line executable that you can install (if you are allowed to install PHP on every box you want to use it on) and the language has a much larger syntax.
ASP uses VBScript (commonly) or javascript (less commonly), both of which can be used for command-line scripting in Windows without extra installations (most of the time).
PHP is generally faster then ASP when doing similar tasks. ASP can be written in a variety of languages (as ASP is the technology, not a language). Personally I have written it in VBScript, Javascript, Perl (via ActivePerl), and Python. They each havetheir tradeoffs efficiency wise, but I don't believe any reach the level of speed that PHP does (though I could be wrong as I haven't tried the newest Perl modules that are distributed with ActivePerl now).
Personally I like ASP because it has a limited syntax. The limit means I can pick up any piece of ASP and read it without having to retreat to a reference manual every three lines because a developer used a function I'm not familiar with to do something that has 16 other functions. It also means tht I could master it more easily and keep on eye on performance as I design pages becaue I already know some of the best manners for doing particular tasks, rather than having to examine a multitude of similar functions. Obviously there is a tradeoff there, but I also think that the code I write in VBScript or ASP comes out prettier than most of my PHP code. Part of this is experience with the language and part of it is just the fact that the VBScript language does have such a simple syntax that it is easily readable.
Personally if I had to pick something up from scratch today, I would likely go with PHP, for the above stated efficiency reasons. However, if the tie-in between Python and the ASP objects (response, Session, etc) had been better (and I could convince web hosts to install it) than I think that would have been my first choice.
At the same time, the skills in writing PHP are equally transferable.
PHP does have a command-line executable that you can install (if you are allowed to install PHP on every box you want to use it on) and the language has a much larger syntax.
ASP uses VBScript (commonly) or javascript (less commonly), both of which can be used for command-line scripting in Windows without extra installations (most of the time).
PHP is generally faster then ASP when doing similar tasks. ASP can be written in a variety of languages (as ASP is the technology, not a language). Personally I have written it in VBScript, Javascript, Perl (via ActivePerl), and Python. They each havetheir tradeoffs efficiency wise, but I don't believe any reach the level of speed that PHP does (though I could be wrong as I haven't tried the newest Perl modules that are distributed with ActivePerl now).
Personally I like ASP because it has a limited syntax. The limit means I can pick up any piece of ASP and read it without having to retreat to a reference manual every three lines because a developer used a function I'm not familiar with to do something that has 16 other functions. It also means tht I could master it more easily and keep on eye on performance as I design pages becaue I already know some of the best manners for doing particular tasks, rather than having to examine a multitude of similar functions. Obviously there is a tradeoff there, but I also think that the code I write in VBScript or ASP comes out prettier than most of my PHP code. Part of this is experience with the language and part of it is just the fact that the VBScript language does have such a simple syntax that it is easily readable.
Personally if I had to pick something up from scratch today, I would likely go with PHP, for the above stated efficiency reasons. However, if the tie-in between Python and the ASP objects (response, Session, etc) had been better (and I could convince web hosts to install it) than I think that would have been my first choice.
not sure where to begin on this one...rac2 opened a can of worms with
which I will also strongly disagree with.
first getting to the question at hand.
Tarwn stated the most advantage over ASP in PHP being efficient on some ends over ASP as a technology. However also stated ASP lends itself to multiple skills to be aquired. Things all again stated above and I will not repeat them as they are all 100% accurate.
So ASP.NET comes in. I still have a very hard time comparing ASP to ASP.NET. The only thing I see as being similar is they are server based. They lend the same form of processing on a generic level. But scripting cannot be compared to OOP in anyway. So to say you should learn ASP.NET over ASP to me is not correct. you should learn OOP over scripting?!? I don't think so. Not from the get go anyhow. If I ws starting out in programming rate now I would hope someone would tell me to grab a few scripting languages and leran the basics. vbscript and php are two very good to learn and give you a great deal of logic feel for how you need to translate user events and process them. I would say learn them both at the same time also. you can easily run both on one machine and side by side write a basic app in one and move over to writing it in the other. That would be a great learning experience for starting off.
Now when you think you may be ready to move to something that in loose terms, has more power..go OO and take a dive into ASP.NET. scripting is still on top as far as whats used more though. You still gain from knowing how to script something. Even while I myself know ASP.NET mainly using C# now I still will tern to vbscript/jscript many times to write something that my .NET develop applications tunr to for input.
i guess I didn't really add to much as far as input goes other then saying learn a few things at once. Just please don't forget to learn how to be a good well rounded "Programmer" while you are learning simple syntax and how to make a process work. Being a good programmer means the language/technology is trivial and just the tool you use for the task at hand. The true knoweldge comes form knowing how to make it more efficient and maintainable.
which I will also strongly disagree with.
first getting to the question at hand.
Tarwn stated the most advantage over ASP in PHP being efficient on some ends over ASP as a technology. However also stated ASP lends itself to multiple skills to be aquired. Things all again stated above and I will not repeat them as they are all 100% accurate.
So ASP.NET comes in. I still have a very hard time comparing ASP to ASP.NET. The only thing I see as being similar is they are server based. They lend the same form of processing on a generic level. But scripting cannot be compared to OOP in anyway. So to say you should learn ASP.NET over ASP to me is not correct. you should learn OOP over scripting?!? I don't think so. Not from the get go anyhow. If I ws starting out in programming rate now I would hope someone would tell me to grab a few scripting languages and leran the basics. vbscript and php are two very good to learn and give you a great deal of logic feel for how you need to translate user events and process them. I would say learn them both at the same time also. you can easily run both on one machine and side by side write a basic app in one and move over to writing it in the other. That would be a great learning experience for starting off.
Now when you think you may be ready to move to something that in loose terms, has more power..go OO and take a dive into ASP.NET. scripting is still on top as far as whats used more though. You still gain from knowing how to script something. Even while I myself know ASP.NET mainly using C# now I still will tern to vbscript/jscript many times to write something that my .NET develop applications tunr to for input.
i guess I didn't really add to much as far as input goes other then saying learn a few things at once. Just please don't forget to learn how to be a good well rounded "Programmer" while you are learning simple syntax and how to make a process work. Being a good programmer means the language/technology is trivial and just the tool you use for the task at hand. The true knoweldge comes form knowing how to make it more efficient and maintainable.
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