Active Server Pages ASP 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.
ASP is Easy of Use
Active Server Pages (ASP) 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.
ASP is 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 on ASP
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 on ASP
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 ASP 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.
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