So what can you do with ASP/PHP? - ..that makes it so special.

I only know ASP and not PHP, so I'll concentrate on that. Here's what I like about ASP:

A lot of functions such as retrieving data from forms and accessing databases are included with ASP.

ASP is a lot faster than CGI, as it is generally built right into the server software. Therefore, it doesn't have to launch a seperate program to execute the script, like with Perl.

It is integrated into HTML, making ASP development much easier than CGI... An ASP script is just a standard HTML file with the script enclosed in <% and %> tags.

The default language used by ASP is VBScript, a variation of the BASIC language. Therefore, anyone can learn it. It also supports other languages such as Perl or Javascript.

Some useful ASP sites I use:
http://www.asp101.com
http://www.ultimateasp.com
http://www.asp-dev.ml.org (they have some great scripts)
http://www.activeserverpages.com
http://www.15seconds.com

To develop ASP scripts on your PC, you should get the free PWS software. It includes a full-featured version of ASP. It can be found somewhere on the Win98 CD, or it can be downloaded from:
http://www.download.com/pc/software/0,332,0-55031-s,1000.html?st.dl.sear...

Okay, I'm done now.

Cheers I'll have a look at those. Thanks for taking the time to answer my question.
JP

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The Webmaster Promotion and Resource Center.
http://www.what-next.com

Stefen pretty much outlined it! PHP is basically the same as ASP, just a different operating system -ASP is NT and PHP is UNIX. The major thing that both of these allow you to do is access databases with speed! I have found that if you are accessing a mySQL database with PHP, it is faster than if you are accessing a Access 97 database with ASP - these are just my results.

Another cool feature that they both allow is, like Stefen said, the manipulation of forms. Whether it is to move the information to a database, e-mail the information to you (or a combination of both), simply move it from one page to another, each can do it all.

One thing that ASP currently holds over PHP is documentation... There isn't much documentation or source coding or even books that can be found just yet for PHP - but ASP has a load of all of the above! For starters, ASP is probably the best to learn as it is easy for anyone that has been programming with VB and it has lots of documentation.

I would just like to say that if anyone needs help with coding or testing, I would be happy to help you out (within reason) as we have both NT and UNIX servers which will run ASP and PHP respectivly... Just toss me an e-mail if you are looking for help, or post here... Eventually, if I ever find time, I might try to make a site that has documentation and examples of both of these scripting languages as they are quickly becoming the most used.

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Chad Simper [ [email protected] ]
Dynamic Internet Solutions [ http://www.dids.com/ ]

Shpek,
I have not seen a place that you can work with ASP like you are talking. These types of places are called "sandboxes" for obvious reasons. NT is not a cheap system to maintain and when you start letting everyone work with scripts, you have to have some major protection on the server so that if someone places a badly coded script on the machine, it won't brin the entire machine down. One thing that ASP is known for is its ability to bring down an entire server because of one poorly written code and believe me, it will!

I think your best bet would be to download PWS as Stefen said. It will allow you to develop the script and once you upload it, provided your host has everything correct, it should work just fine.

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Dynamic Internet Solutions : http://www.dids.com
UNIX and Windows NT Hosting

I'm a Webmaster and am beginning research on using ASP.

Is there somewhere where we can upload our ASP pages to test them out for real and not locally? And, is there any other information on using the PWS software and it's installation process?

I went to: (http://www.download.com/pc/software/0,332,0-55031-,1000.html?st.dl.searc...) and the prgram is not available for downloading...just to let everyone know...

Thanks for the help
shpek

You made a mistake on the URL. The correct url is:
http://www.download.com/pc/software/0,332,0-55031-s,1000.html?st.dl.sear...

Assuming UBB code works on Bigtalker, you can click below to download it:
http://www.download.com/pc/software/0,332,0-55031-s,1000.html?st.dl.search.results.tdtl

To my knowledge there are not any free services that allow you to test your ASP scripts. Your best bet is to use PWS, as it includes a fully functional version of ASP. (Most of the time you can develop a script on PWS, upload it to your web host, and it will work without any modifications.)

Installing PWS is pretty straight forward. However, it requires IE4 or higher, so make sure you have it before you install.

Hope this helps.