Is Asp generally better/worse/just different than PHP?

[TroyMcClure]

I'm trying to get a general idea about the opinions web developers have as far as using php or asp as a development tool. With this being an Asp forum, I imagine I'll get positive response towards asp, but I'm also looking for an honest assesment of what asp's weak points may be, such as platform portability, etc. Thanks for any thoughts and opinions.
--Troy

 

[schase]

I learned in ASP, really have not touched PHP yet. But IMHO. The weaknesses I see in ASP versus PHP is many components are built into PHP and free where with ASP you do need to get/buy/find/locate components like Upload components.

But having said that, there usually are free components/scripts to do what you need - just takes some looking. That is if your on a no budget like I often am.

Some say asp is faster than php, and the other way around. But IMHO - I think it's really to the way it's coded and the coder.

If you asked this on the PHP forum, you'll get what I consider a lie. They'll say PHP is free and ASP isn't. I believe it to be a lie since you can code asp in notepad that costs you nothing - just like you can php. The only real difference there is is the server OS you run it on for hosting. But then again if you rent a server, the prices nowadays really are not that much different.

That probably left you no where closer to an answer than when I started. Personally I really enjoy ASP, with anything you will get to know it second hand - heck learn both if you can.

The peer-to-peer communities are plentiful on both sides. So either way you choose you'll have plenty of help.

"Never underestimate the power of determination"

Stuart
A+, Net+

 

[steven290]

i've coded in both and they are very similar, php does have more built in components like ability to ftp, setup webmail, pdf. Another is that is cross platform compatible, meaning it run on both windows and unix servers. Unix servers are more secure than windows servers.

But i still prefer to asp over php, don't know why.

 

[a6m1n0]

If you code with the Visual Basic language, then there is only one platform ASP will run on: Microsoft's Internet Information Services(IIS). (MS Personal Web Server-PWS-Doesn't really count as a server platform IMHO; it's a developement platform and was deprecated for IIS in Windows 2000 and subsequent versions of Windows.)

I started learning TI BASIC back in 1983, and when MS-DOS was released I started programming with GWBasic, then QBasic; In between I dabbled with FORTRAN and C. I actually think the Visual Basic Scripting language has been pretty easy to learn and will successfully port to other VB runtime enviorments -- Console and Windows Shell Scripting, and of course Visual Basic and .NET -- with little or no massive code changes in most cases.

My experience with ASP is just over 1.5 years, and my first ASP project was thrown in my lap only because I had experience with the Visual Basic language. Since then I have developed several websites, each with ASP content management interfaces.

My only experience with PHP is installing the components on the server's at work for people to 'dabble' with. I have no experience beyond that with PHP so I couldn't tell you if it was 'better' or not.

Thats my $0.02 worth.

-a6m1n0

"Don't try to reinvent the wheel." -My HS FORTRAN Professor

 

[ChrisHirst]

I use both but prefer ASP.
It's more to do with how you started programming. C/C++ programmers find PHP easier because it's syntax is very similar or the same for some function. Though as it really is written by a committee the funtion naming gets somewhat erratic.

I started in a Pascal and dBase II environment so Delphi, VB, ASP/vbScript followed quite naturally.

One advantage to learning ASP is if you run Win2k pro or XP pro it's already there.

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Woo Hoo! the cobblers kids get new shoes.
Nightclub counting systems

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[trollacious]

I've used PHP and ASP, though for the ASP I write I use JSCript. I like object-oriented programming, and miss that when I write ASP. Also, I've found that not all web hosts are willing to upgrade to one of the latest versions of PHP, so what works on MY computer sometimes has to be rewritten because it exhibits different behavior on other servers.

I've worked with C writing executables, and PHP has a lot of similarities to that. Overall, I'd take JScript ASP over PHP because of objects. I've built a library of functions that handle a lot of the things PHP has built in, so that's not a selling point for me.

Lee

 

[TroyMcClure]

Thanks everyone for the input, it's generally what I was thinking, but needed some validation.
--Troy

 

[Tarwn]

To answer a question that was asked earlier. Yes, PHP is faster then ASP, if you compare on similar boxes with similar levels of coding ability.
While the ability of the coder is part of the equation, in every benchmark I have seen (comparng apples to apples) PHP has been faster then classic ASP.
Part of the speed difference is all of the COM stuff that goes into making ASP what it is. Generally I prefer ASP, though I am not sure why. I have written ASP in VBScript most of the time, but also have used JScript, PerlScript, and PythonIf you absolutely must have speed your best bet would probably be native Perl cgi scripts. From what I have seen it has the speed jump on just about everything short of writing a compiled, C-based, mini-webserver specifically to fit your needs.