Active Server Pages are a server-side scripting technology primary
developed to work under IIS (Internet Information Server) on
Windows NT Server (3rd party products exist enabling the use of ASP
on other server platforms). ASP enables the server to deliver
dynamic, database driven content to the client with minimal effort.
The goal of this article is not to move developers from other
wonderful technologies to ASP, but to explain the advantages of
Active Server Pages to Web designers, programmers and anyone
interested in Web development. ASP is not my first server-side
scripting technology. I was developing with Netscape Server-Side
JavaScript, Borland IntraBuilder and Oracle Web Application Server
before I moved to ASP. Now I’m an ASP developer, and I will try
to explain why I think ASP is currently the best choice for general
Web developer.
Ease of Use
Active Server Pages are plain HTML pages with ASP code embedded
into them enclosed in <% and %> tags. You just place ASP files
into a directory on the server with scripting or execute
permissions and your ASPs are ready to run. Whenever you need to
change something you just edit the .asp files and that’s it, your
changes are applied.
Language Independence
ASP is a scripting engine enabling you to develop in virtually any
language of your choice. The two languages available by default
are VBScript and JScript (Microsoft’s version of JavaScript);
however, modules for Perl, Python and other languages already
exist and there are virtually no limits for support for other
languages to be implemented. This enables the novice ASP developer
to utilize his or her previous programming experience. If you
have ever programmed in Visual Basic or VBA (the version of Visual
Basic used in the MSOffice suite), you will have no problems
starting with VBScript. If you’re familiar with JavaScript, then
JScript is your choice. Unix gurus will find that Perl can be
used readily.
Short Learning Curve
As you have seen, you may use your current expertise in some
programming language or technology to jump into ASP in short time.
Even if you know only HTML, it will not be difficult for you to
learn how to insert ASP commands into your HTML files. Why, you
ask? Just keep reading….
Tons of Information
There are currently more than 150 sites listed in Open Directory’s
ASP category. This is more than for any other server-side
development engine or language. Lots of online magazines will
deliver new articles on ASP to your mailbox on a weekly or even
daily basis. There’s a lot of resources out there for ASP, folks.
Huge Community
There are plenty of professional ASP developers ready to answer
your questions in numerous ASP newsgroups and forums. For instance,
on the day I write this article, there are more than 50 new threads
in the microsoft.public.inetserver.asp.general newsgroup alone.
