Hi,
Apologies in advance if this thread has been posted in the wrong place.
I'm interested in learning php/MySQL and ASP and want to ask whether or not ASP is similar to php and if it's generally considered better to have a go at learning php prior to learning ASP.
Regarding ASP web-sites is the language ASP.net or ASP (not sure if there's a difference)?. Also can ASP or ASP.net web-sites be written locally and hosted locally for testing purposes prior to FTP'ing to web-space?.
Can anyone recommend any good books for newbies who are wanting a crash course study of php/MySQL and ASP?.
Thank you.
Best Regards.
php/MySQL and ASP (newbie question).
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newbie2linux
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Re: php/MySQL and ASP (newbie question).
Similar in the respect that they are both used to create a dynamic website, in that the content provided on the website changes without interaction from the admin.newbie2linux wrote:Hi,
Apologies in advance if this thread has been posted in the wrong place.
I'm interested in learning php/MySQL and ASP and want to ask whether or not ASP is similar to php and if it's generally considered better to have a go at learning php prior to learning ASP.
Regarding ASP web-sites is the language ASP.net or ASP (not sure if there's a difference)?. Also can ASP or ASP.net web-sites be written locally and hosted locally for testing purposes prior to FTP'ing to web-space?.
Can anyone recommend any good books for newbies who are wanting a crash course study of php/MySQL and ASP?.
Thank you.
Best Regards.
ASP isn't technically the language behind an ASP website. ASP actually stands for "active server page", or that the server processes the script before the output is sent to your computer browser. Just like how PHP (hypertext preprocessor, or pre-hypertext processor if you want to get technical with the acronym
.NET provides a different environment than ASP/PHP can provide. It allows for more custom applications and easier extension with regards to custom code/services being written to interact with things on your server more readily.
Yes, you can host a local version of your site for testing before you put it on a live server. Look into Apache (http://www.apache.org) if you want to use PHP, and IIS (http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsServer2 ... fault.mspx) for ASP/.NET.
Excellent summary, Moose! I only want to add, in answer to one of the poster's questions about whether he should learn PHP before ASP, that it sort of depends on what environment you expect to be working in. If you're planning to work in a Linux environment, using Apache web server, then you definitely want to learn PHP. If you think that you'll be using a Microsoft server, with IIS web server, then you definitely want to learn either VBScript (ASP) or .NET/.ASP (which, in my opinion, is a much steeper learning curve). If your goal is to be able to use both, I don't think it matters too much which you learn first, but learning both of them more or less at the same time will be very difficult, indeed.
With server extensions, you can mix and match some of these components, but I would advise avoiding that, if you possibly can. Learn one set and gain some competence in that. Then later you may want to learn the other set.
As a purely personal opinion, I think the open source Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP combination is a lot easier to learn and use than the Microsoft combination, but I'm sure some will disagree.
With server extensions, you can mix and match some of these components, but I would advise avoiding that, if you possibly can. Learn one set and gain some competence in that. Then later you may want to learn the other set.
As a purely personal opinion, I think the open source Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP combination is a lot easier to learn and use than the Microsoft combination, but I'm sure some will disagree.
- RobertGonzalez
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To clarify this point, there are few jobs left for ASP.old developers as the push is to the .NET side of ASP development, primarily in C#.NET and VB.NET.onion2k wrote:Loathe as I am to admit it, if you're learning this stuff in order to get a job then go with ASP. PHP jobs are quite rare compared to the market for ASP developers.
The Moose did a good job of answering your initial question. I would only to add that every server side language has its own learning curve. Whether it be ASP (which can be VBscript or even Javascript on the server), .NET (C#/VB/J#), JSP, ColdFusion, Ruby, Python, Perl or PHP, you will need to be able to understand the syntax of the language in order to be able to understand the language.
I used to work with an ASP coder. When I looked at VBscript I just about died. I was totally confused at first because I couldn't spot variables, I had no idea that there was a difference between Subroutines and Functions and the fact that uppercase and lowercase meant the same thing in it made me really not take to it. But after developing in it for a while, it became a lot easier to use and eventually I learned it pretty well.
When I decided to learn .NET I went the C# route. When comparing syntax, C# is very similar to PHP in style, and it is very similar to Java in its syntax. So of course, learning Java (which I have not taken to yet, but have read a few design patterns books centered on Java using code that I have ported to PHP) leads me to believe that learning C#.NET/Java/PHP could all be done at the same time.
ColdFusion is a tag soup language that personally I would stay away from for as long as possible. Unless you like your markup and your code to look identical. I have never been a strong supporter of CF, and I learned the basics of it just to add to my resume.
As far as testing locally on your machine. Not only is it possible, it is highly recommended in my opinion. Why in the world would you ever want to develop something then have to FTP it to a live server in order to see if it works?