ASP

What are your experiences with asp? Why do you choose to code in php instead? (or do you?) If you had do make a website that uses several databases, which language would you choose? why?

Since this is a PHP forum you are sure to get some hostile responses withthat post, but the truth is they are both solid platforms for development. The fact that Linux/Apache/PHP/MySQL is all open source and therefore much cheaper makes it usually more cost effective in terms of setting up the infrastructure for the website. With that said, I have worked on both and I prefer PHP/MySQL and it seems to me that the open source movement is outpacing the MicroSoft team in terms of adding features, and make their solution more robust. It's very nice that when a new version of everything comes out you can upgrade for free even though it was free in the first place.

Currently the more valuable skill set to have is almost certainly ASP.NET but as many of the fortune 500's are seeing the value of using *nix this may change in the not too distant future. If you have previously coded VB then taking up ASP is pretty easy, but if you have more experience with Javascript or even Jscript you might like PHP better. I think it's clear that you'll save money if you use the open source platform even assuming you buy your OS from someone like RedHat.

I coded in asp for awhile and then heard of php and decided to check it out. I loved php from the start. So easy to learn. I nearly immediatly stopped using asp and started using php.

I started off with ASP but had to switch to PHP due to certain reasons.. But when I got started going on with it, I fell in love with PHP and now I don't care whether ASP exists.. It is a language with an elegance and use of arrays is what I like the most.. Wonder whether ANY other language has such a huge number of built in functions?????

One thing/feature I have heard people complain about with regard to php is the lack of structure. In almost all other languages you need to declare your variables/types before you use them. I actually like that you don't have to but it does/can lead to some sloppy practices and potential errors as well. I really like when I can treat a variable like a string one moment and a number/int the next.

You can do this in every language! Haven't you heard of variable type conversions?

To start with i was going to learn ASP, until a lot of people i knew started learning PHP, so i thought id go forwhat i thoght was best. I looked over some codes, tutorials etc to see what i found easier to understand, and it was PHP, so started learning it. Theirs also a lotmorehelp for PHP on the net, tho a lot more money is going into ASP Development (correct me if im wrong) ...

Anyway, i prefer PHP coz its easier tp understand and has more built in functions ...

I also started out using ASP, but when I started learning PHP I was hooked. It has more of a unix/linux type feel, and I prefer that environment to windows for development by a long shot. Another thing I love about PHP is that you don't have to pay for any of the add-ons, it seems like every time I wanted to do something in ASP I had to buy a new module.

The only that ASP has that I wish PHP had was the ability to use the Option Explicit command. I found it very useful not only because I'm used to declaring variables in C, but it saved me some serious debug time a few times when I had a typo in a variable name.

At the start with ASP, connecting with databases was a pain in the neck for me.. With so many built in functions in PHP to work around with the most powerful openSource database MySQL is really an added advantage.. When u have the LAMP why look out for the candle??

LOL, of course you can do this in every language but not on the fly in many I am aware of. Some more structured programmers I know find this to be a flaw more than a feature because of how difficult it can be to find a variable that is mispelled (as was mentioned above, if you have to declare your variables then you get an error when you transpose a letter). Thanks for the wizardly insight, but how many languages can you do this kind of operation in,



and get a numerically correct answer?

In any event PHP seems more intuitive and is definately growing faster but the market place rewards ASP skills far more lucratively at this point.

Turn on notices in your development environment. Then you get a notice for all undefined variables...

Notices get annoying with forms though ...

Why is that?

Matt,

I wish that was an option, but I'm not the only person that does development on most of the servers I work on, I would probably get outvoted!

Well, it can certainly improve the quality of the code your team creates. Personally, I will not do development of code without all notices on. It allows you to more quickly catch errors and avoid security issues.