Yeah, I used to be a QBASIC junkie. I remembered how thrilled I was when I found out about version 4.5 and it's "make executable" option. I remember making a few cheesy games back in the day with other friends and we needed a way to hide our code. This was a thrill. I stopped following QBASIC after 7.0. Sometimes I'm still amazed what you can do with such a restricted language.

Anyone remember the game Gorilla? Immortal Kombat? Nibbles? BalloonX? Those were damn good games. =)

I would most definately promote PHP over all languages listed above. Partly because I first learned PERL, and the transition to PHP was beautiful. No CHMOD, no specific beginning syntax (such as shebang), and best of all I could just close the tag and start writing HTML (with quotes!). The second reason being because I don't know ASP or ColdFusion, I looked into both however I couldn't get ahold of either for free..so there goes that idea.

I've had my eye on VB6, although I can't get ahold of an install file that will actually install for free, and I don't feel like spending $100 on the standard edition. If anyone has an install file that will actually install (Visual Studio, or Visual C++) it would be greatly appreciated. =]

I got a nice warez version of CodeWarrior, so I can at least look into C++. I have a book on C++, although PHP projects absorb all the time I would otherwise spend on the book. Until further modivation...

I think each language has their strengths. Here are my feelings towards PHP, ASP.NET, Perl, ColdFusion:

PHP - Most growth potential out of all. Rapidly gaining more and more followers. The best choice for small to medium sized businesses due to its price and wealth of free resources. Highly compatible with many OSs.

ASP.NET - Currently a hot technology and medium to big business are questioning its potential. Because it's Microsoft branded, it's here to stay. Also, it's probably the highest in demand when it comes to web development jobs.

Perl - Good language to do administrative tasks on Unix/Linux operating systems. Low development cost compared to other languages. Highly compatible with many OSs. Contains good parsing and a huge amount of resources, like CPAN.org.

ColdFusion - Easiest and fastest way to do web applications. A lot of functionality comes right out of the box, rather than installing modules or components. Great error trapping/reporting. Can integrate with anything written in Java and therefore has most of Java's advantages because all CF pages get compiled by a Java engine and handled as Java Byte code.

Some good sites for php would be
php.net
webmonkey.com
hotscripts.com (for example code)
google.com (hehe, lots of stuff there)
or get a book, some good ones are
sam's teach yourself php in 24 hours
beginning php
Those are just some ones I liked. Ultimatly, PHP is a good language to know for web development. I don't know asp, so I can't really comment on that

On PHP books for some quality learning, this is where I'd point you.

The KEY book that can take you from beginner to intermediate PHP programmer IMHO is:

PHP and MySQL Web Development (Welling & Thompson) - I have the first release of this book, and they put out a new one a few months back that I haven't been able to pick up yet... This book is EASY to read, easy to understand, and the code examples are great for a beginner, and they explain it every step of the way.

Other books I own & recommend:

PHP Functions Essential Reference - my library wouldn't be complete without this book... it includes every PHP function, with descriptions, usage, etc. I'd consider it a reference for a intermediate to advanced PHP programmer.

PHP4 Bible - This book is antoher must have for beginning to intermediate PHP programmers.

Professional PHP4 XML - Gets into advanced PHP for use with XML, XSL, XSLT, etc.

Professional PHP Web Services - Advanced level PHP with usage on web applications including SOAP, XML, WSDL, UDDI, XML-RPC, and more... This is the main book I'm still working with on learning some of the theory behind web services.

I love PHP simply because of it's open source nature, quickly growing base of users, and with any other programming background, it's really easy to implement your own coding style into PHP.

Could anyone give me some sources about ASP and PHP??

E-Books, Code Archives, Examples ( No amazon Books)..

An excellent thread!!!
As for the matter of installing Apache server on your computer I reccomend using EasyPHP
It's easy to setup, a click here, a click there, and you're done. And it has a built-in MySQL server as well.

hi well ihave learnt php apache and ,ysql lately, i can say i was really exited all about it. because i think php is hignly in demand and easy to use. now i am learning jsp and i dont have any java programming background so that is veyr hard tpo grasp especiallyy when you have to do shopping carts and ecommerce transactions

anyway wish you luck 4 ya lesarning.

i know a good book php 5 the authors?/ i will find out and tell you

I found w3school a good site to start from. they also have online tutorials where you can explore on the code by modifying its lines...

I suggest you to go for learning any one full language with all features first. Then you can just migrate to any other language of your choice. because most of the languages will have almost similar features with a few differences in coding / application.