I've taken a peek at both these programs and haven't really dove deep into either of these and so I want your opinions on both or either.

I think ASP is very good and easy at manipulating XML data because of it's easy to use DOM XML. However, from the looks of it, the code is very Visual Basic like, which I look down on because of it's wordy functions trying to make things easier such as: "THEN, to," and other words that I think should be replaced with symbols such as "{ and ;"

I think PHP is great for getting variables and displaying them. It's got good programming functionality. However, I find it hard to manipulate and even Parse XML data in this language.

Now, I'm planning on using both these languages but how would I be able to obtain data from MySQL Database (using PHP) and obtain data from XML (using ASP) in just one single page? Is there use for include function from php? Is it possible to include an ASP page in PHP file?

I haven't really investigated these languages either. I am learning PHP currently out of the W3Schools websites and tutorials off of the Astahost and Trap17 forums and it seems to be better than PHP.

ASP is a Microsoft technology (Active Server Pages). PHP is a free, open-source (I think) technology. (Hypertext Preprocessor).

Personally, I prefer PHP over ASP because of its widespread support. I also like the "include" function of PHP, it saves A LOT OF time. Now I know how the professional web pages do it.

I don't think there is a way to include ASP into PHP because PHP is <?php ?> and ASP is <% %>. If the file has the .php or .php3 extension, it will render that code as either HTML, PHP or something else and generate an error.

If anyone would like to give me some help on PHP, please feel free to give me links to websites.

By the way, XML + PHP has a short tutorial here:

• Expat XML Parser in the PHP core
• SimpleXML in PHP 5
• Reference to SimpleXML

These are from the W3Schools. I hope these have helped. Perhaps a more experienced person can help you better.

XML is easily parsed in both languages, because both can make use of DOMXML. As such, it really depends on what you are going for. I prefer PHP because it is easy to use with astahost's hosting. However, if you are running on with Windows Server and using IIS, and you like the .NET architecture, it may be to your advantage to use ASP.NET.

~Viz

Although both languages are server languages ASP is geared more towards businesses then for regular use. While Php can be used for both it's usually good for independent/fun sites.

Personally i don't like to use ASP/ASP.Net because of it's dependency on windows, and having certain problem or limitation with IIS. If referring to ASP.Net, it's powerful indeed.

For non web based application, i like to use vb.net. I get to roll out the application in the shortest possible time comparing to other languages. ASP.Net is the same. But there's always a misunderstanding regarding VB.Net/ASP.Net of it's "Visual Basic like" nature. " Visual Basic like" doesn't mean it's deficient. For the old VB6 or ASP, yes, that might be true. But the newer VB.Net and ASP.Net, they're powerful. The most notable point is the short development time. Sometime, even if i wanted to write something in other languages, i would choose do it in vb.net first , just to prove the concept, then copy that concept over to what ever language that i prefer later. That really help save a lot of time.

Since I don't like ASP.Net (even though I love VB.Net), so, I actually prefer php due to it's cross platform compatibility, speed, simplicity, and it's Free!

For connection to MySQL, php is simpler. Please correct me if i'm wrong. In, ASP.Net, you can't reuse the same connection for different query at the same time. For example, if you're trying to loop through a SELECT query, then trying to use the same connection to do some UPDATE in the loop, it will throw an exception. I've been facing that in .Net (VB.Net & C#). Where as PHP doesn't have such limitation.

ASP has the inlcude function, it's just done differently:

I personally prefer PHP. I find it 'nicer' than ASP. Yes, I have tried ASP and it didn't go down so well.

I'm currently learning VB6 at college, and it's a lot like PHP. The constructs/syntax is very similar. Obviously is slightly different, as in you have to have Then and the loops are a bit different. Other than that, I like them both.

The file extension doesn't matter. The page will be parsed the same.

I think you can use both ASP and PHP in the same file, but there is no point and setting up the server to do such a thing is a little tricky.

Wow. PHP.
It is so much better than ASP, even though it's not that good either. Not that good, but still far beyond ASP.

You know what? This might not be fair because I only got to try ASP, and have actually heard better things about ASP.NET. I built sites with Application Server Pages for about a year or two, building quite a few personal sites that almost never left my home IIS installation. Then at some point I had to reformat my computer and install a legit copy of Windows XP Home Edition instead of the illegal Professional Edition I had before. So then yeah, I'm stuck without IIS and all my profound ASP experience goes to the waste. So I tried learning PHP, and actually never even learned it.. just looked at other scripts and then started building my own sites. It's quite an easy language!

It does have a lot of bad things, like its totally lacking Unicode support, no namespaces, and some very not programmer-friendly "features." I think that the best language for web development (or general development) is Python, but again, I haven't yet used ASP.NET. Still, stay away from the old ASP and go to PHP if you want something that's really widespread and supported.

PHP and ASP may be different languages, but their purpose is similar. They can both produce the same results, just in different ways. However, PHP is open-sourced and it's easier to make modules that leach onto it, unlike in ASP.


If you had been doing it a year or two, then you should know that it is called Active Server Pages.


You don't need IIS to run ASP. http://www.devx.com/tips/Tip/30771

Also, if you hadn't learnt PHP then you wouldn't be able to understand or apply it. The only thing you could do is reproduce the scripts, which could cause serious errors and security issues.

I refuse to compare these languages other that code-style wise. Mainly because I've never done anything serious with ASP...


As an C coder with some PerI experience found PHP syntax very easy to learn and in general I like the language a lot. The only negative thing I have to say is the way it handles objects... It's just so loose and "light-weight" if you know what I mean.

PHP is better than ASP, the reasons you gave in the frist post are a bit ridiculous. To manipulate XML in both languages you have easy libraries.

Variable manipulation is similar in both of them...

The main difference between them (not including the sintax) is that you have to pay for using ASP, while PHP is free.