PHP vs ASP... the big ShOwdOwN

[AlPhA]

What do you guys think are the real future uses for these two technologies, asp and php?

[AlPhA]

Personally, i think PHP will be for those more cost-conscious companies. I see that many big (and rich) companies are using ASP because they can afford the massive costs that are required for purchasing licenses to windows. Also... i think the intranet will greatly benefit with asp (and aspx). The two big databases that will be used with asp (and aspx) will be either sql server or oracle. I've yet to use oracle so i can't say if it's good or bad, just that i know that a lot of the bigger databases that use asp use oracle.

Basic Point: Intranet's and rich companies sites

PHP i think will be for those more cost-consciours companies who want big clusters but with low costs. It's very cheap to run PHP because all it requires is really apache, and the php addon from php.net. Also, this will have a great impact on websites similar to tomshardware.com. Not only to sites where they need to squeeze every penny to make a revenue, but also to forums. Imagine having several MILLION! threads in a forum and searching for it in sql server. Damn... that'll take forever. And... a lot of goofdopen source forums use php/mysql. php/mysql will become the popular choice for these types of websites.

Basic Point: more to the geeky community

[samaru]

Actually, SQL Server is more powerful than you think. You're making it seem like it's Access. SQL Server is meant to handle millions of records, and uses a large array of features such as indexing. (MySQL comes no where near to SQL Server.) Also, one of the main reasons why companies use ASP is because they have a WindowsNT server running. They have that because it's easier to maintain and setup (the network) with Windows than it is with Linux/Unix. And since ASP comes free with WindowsNT/2K, then they go for ASP.

Sometimes just because it's a good product, doesn't mean it's efficient for the company. I think it will be a while before PHP really catches up in the community. It's certainly a hot product right now, PHP, but it doesn't come close to the number of sites running ASP.

I used to be a big ASP fan. Then I went to PHP. I loved it. Then I stepped aside and now I'm doing ColdFusion. I think ColdFusion is the most enjoyable to work with because you can do an entire application in 1/4 the time it would take with any other language.

[AlPhA]

That's what i'm saying, the corporate sites are/will going to use ASP/win, while the more economical businesses will be using PHP/linux.

Coldfusion... hmm, got to get more into that. Don't really know much about that. But a 1/4 of the time!!! WOW!!! that really made me interested.

[samaru]

You better believe it. Here's how to run get a record set from an SQL database in ASP and display it. This is one of the shortest way to write it.

Dim objConn, objRS

Set objConn = Server.CreateObject ("ADODB.Connection")
objConn.Open "database"

Set objRS = objConn.Execute ("select * from table")

While Not objRS.eof
Response.Write objRS("user_namex")
objRS.Movenext
Wend

objRS.close
objConn.Close

Now in ColdFusion

select * from table

#user_namex#

any questions?

[AlPhA]

This is more or less a stupid question, but what if you don't want to setup a dsn with coldfusion, would it still work?

The coldfusion code loops? And it continues to the next record in the recordset (basically, rs.movenext)? It is a lot shorter. Dunno coldfusion so it's not like i could understand much of what you wrote. But, maybe in a few years i'll learn coldfusion.

What extension are coldfusion pages in? .html? (like .php and .asp)

[AlPhA]

O yah... i personally prefer:

rs.open sqlstring, conn, (you know, adlockreadonly and stuff, don't have reference manual here so i'm not gonna look at what ya can put in here)

With the execute method, could you still do the adlockreadonly stuff?

[samaru]

What do you mean? Somehow integrate it with the Execute method? I doubt it. If so, I've never tried it. I only used it along with Open method.

The only reason why I append the "obj" is because I learned it that way. "obj" stands for object of course. In Visual Basic, the standard is prefixing pic, frm, img, cmd, lbl, etc., before objects - that's why I do it that way.

[AlPhA]

Most people use that type of object naming. Probably because it's kind of how the cstr() and dateserial() are named. Dateserial isn't a good example, but uhh, cint() is.

The adlockreadonly, pessimistic, and etc

rs.open, sqlstuff, conn, 1, 1

i find that adding the 1's into it allows me sometimes to close the connection and recordset, as well as "release" it from memory (set rs = nothing).

I'm gonna try the execute method later today. But, did you ever have any problems closing (rs.close) and releasing from memory (set rs = nothing)? Dunno why, but when i use the open method, i sometimes have problems saying that i can't close or whatever.

I've heard of a few people who have this problem, they say it's probably just glitches with IIS.

[samaru]

Never had a problem with it. But I'm sure you can get an error under the right circumstance; I've never written a huge application in asp, so my chances of that were little. I've written a few address books, organizers, forums, logins, etc. Most of my real stuff has been in C++ and now ColdFusion.

Right now I'm trying to get together with a few buddies on developing an application. We still have to discuss what we're going to do, and what technologies to use. It should be fun.

[AlPhA]

LoL... the preprogramming thinking is the hardest part.

[kidd0]

PHP = SQL
ASP = Access
(.)

[Tekmaven]

---K--- - not always! ASP, and now especially ASP.NET can use many databases! Access, SQL Server, Oracle, and MySql!

[samaru]

PHP = SQL ?

SQL is a language itself. I take it you meant the MySQL Server and not SQL Server. As far as databases connecting to scripts, there are tons of APIs for almost every language to communicate with any database. The popular trend though is mixing PHP with MySQL/PostgreSQL Server and ASP/ASP.NET with SQL Server or Access for a lightweight app.

[Xelfinn]

What do you guys think are the real future uses for these two technologies, asp and php?

Well, even though I'm a geek newbie, I would have to say ASP is already dead since ASPX is already taking its place with .NET. :)

[samaru]

I think it will be a while until classic ASP dies out. Too many systems have been written in ASP and I think it will cost too much to convert over to .NET. It's easier to just update code than rewrite it all. No features have been taken out from ASP so there's no reason still why you shouldn't use it. It's still a lot simpler than .NET and less software/hardware consuming than .NET. But then again, there's more you can do with .NET. Also, Microsoft is now concentrating more on .NET so I wouldn't get my hopes up on new inovations for classic ASP. Eventually the more .NET grows, the more the ASP community will die out and transfer over to .NET.

[Xelfinn]

Well, yeah, I probably overstated it a bit. :)

And, maybe understated the above. Ha. :)

[samaru]

I still haven't gotten into any sort of .NET development yet. I really should. I've read about the architecture but have not yet embarked on any projects yet. Hopefully I'll have more time after the semester is over.

[PokerNinja]

I'm getting ready to begin the development of a complete online store within the next month. I have developed in ASP for about 7 years now and consider myself an expert user. I only recently began to learn PHP for a project and I must say I kinda like it, but I'm still very much a novice at the language. I had originally planned to write the online store in ASP, but I'm beginning to get the feeling that PHP may be the better way to go. Any thoughts, comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[vangraan]

I still haven't gotten into any sort of .NET development yet. I really should. I've read about the architecture but have not yet embarked on any projects yet. Hopefully I'll have more time after the semester is over.

You will be converted when you do. I have done projects in PHP, JSP and ASP (no Coldfusion yet). PHP is very cool for smaller apps. I am currently working in ASP, and I don’t like it that much. But I came from .Net which is much better.

.Net is so much better that anything I have worked on. It is much more scalable and maintainable. For small businesses PHP is fine and cheap but if you are large company I can't see why you would want to go any other way that ASP.net - SQL Server.