What is your favourite scripting language????

Right now, we've been looking primarily at the language itself. Yet, what about the dynamic portion of the language; id est, the db behind the scenes.

It seems that if you go with ASP, you also go with MSSQL - PHP means MySQL.

Is that perhaps the cost issue?

Another point, Visual Web Developer Express is a fairly new project - when I was first learning languages, IIS was available with some versions of Windows, but not with others. Apache 1.x was a better option due to it's availability. Heck, first IIS is available, and then they pull it out of XP Home, recently. Perhaps they'll put it back in Vista on, for all versions, instead of just the professional/corporate versions ...

I've also found that support for ASP, ColdFusion - your more 'corporate'/primarily-Windows languages is not as diverse as that for more Open Source languages.

Along with this, environment support is a deal more diverse - perhaps it's a lack of knowledge, but I've always been under the impression that if you want to run IIS, you better be running Windows (and a Server edition, at that).

 

I'm always wary when someone writes about ASP when I'm talking 'bout ASP.NET. If you do not know the difference, then you have a surprise in store for you. ASP.NET is a whole new ballgame. It has only the name (and some backwards compatibility) in common with ASP. It has completely left the stream oriented imperative html building of ASP (and PHP, JSP etc) behind and gone full OO. A page is an object, as is a field, a user, a hyperlink ...

That said, ASP.NET is database agnostic. It comes with support for MSSQL, Oracle, Access and any database system with OLEDB and/or ODBC drivers - which is just about every database system out there - including mySQL.

mySQL also has native .NET drivers linked from thier homepage.

PHP is very intimate with mySQL, but can also use a number of other database systems, provided that they have a PDO driver.

So, no - it cannot be the database system that is the "cost issue". You can use mySQL perfectly fine with ASP.NET.

VWD Express was launched (with the other editions) last Nov 7th, after a very long beta test period. VWD Express is free, and includes a no-nonsense special development webserver. This built-in webserver makes it far more easy to debug your websites. You do not need IIS for development/testing anymore.

However, for performance testing and for testing of larger sites, you'd better go with an IIS. And you're right it does seem strange how MS crippled the XP Pro version of IIS and left it out altogether from XP Home.

That anecdotal evidece. I've found great support on MS sites, on www.asp.net, and a number of other sites. Seeing that you still refer to ASP i suspect that you haven't been that deep into asp.net support.

That is correct. Although, shared windows hosting is about the same cost as PHP on linux nowadays.

 

No, I haven't (looked into the differences between ASP and .NET, etc.). Which brings up the point, previous conceptions can lead to future misconceptions ...

I've worked in ASP, and last I heard we'll be moving to .NET in the future. I've heard of the benefits of .NET (smaller code was what I heard, which I'm not too impressed with, but ... whatever - different strokes).

For most people, that haven't been programming in the last year, they may have compared the languages years ago - after all, we can only learn so many languages (unless we're trying to win a competition ).

After checking out ASP/ASP.NET before Microsoft had to start releasing development software for free/low-cost, they may have made certain assessments - namely that ASP (period) development was too high of a cost ... Once people have choosen a core language, it's hard to get them to switch, especially if they can say (perhaps incorrectly) that they've already tried the language. If a PHP developer can make 20/30$+ per hour, why not focus on PHP, the language they happened to have found to be a better choice years ago ...

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VWD: Install it on Windows 98. Install it on XP, pre-SP2.

I'd argue it's still a limited application. I'd love to install the software to test it and learn more about what I may have to learn in the future, but I'm not quite willing to upgrade to SP2 yet (yes yes, MS software is buggy, and I'm leaving myself open - programmers are lazy, aren't they? isn't that why we like smaller code? ) I'd guess I'm not the only one.

I'd love to have a way to install a developer's edition of IIS on an older machine, without needing the most current patches of everything (as we all know there are people out there that can't or won't upgrade (to) XP ... I can do it with ColdFusion - I can do it with Apache - but I can't do it with Microsoft.

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That said, thanks for your complete response above - glad I could get a full reason why there may not be a cost issue. Suppose it's time to buy a new computer or upgrade my XP machine to SP2 so I can try out .NET ...

 

Visual Basic,VB.net and C#,C++

 

I like Visual Basic for apps yet detest Mr Gates attempt at web code. ASP has never grabbed my attention and never will, however, I may look at .NET at some point, but when Bill makes these things, he is usually trying to counteract a free product and charging for his. Not good, in my opinion.

 

i`m currently learning PHP

 

Oh, and for the record......

I use PHP for my web code.

It is a common misconception that PHP is solely using MySQL. If you know the handlers, you can use any database.

Learn and enjoy!!

 

I prefer PHP because all my sites are using PHP

 

I personally use PHP. It's widely used and I like it.

 

I use ColdFusion and find it to be the most natural way to code and it's usually a few years ahead of the rest. As an example I attended a ASP.NET preview a number of years back and they were announcing session management features that had been in CF for a few versions. Currently CF has SMS, Flash forms, and a number of other features out of the box that others don't.

My second choice is PHP because of all the free apps. But of late I've seen a number of my free apps hacked and see notes about hacks on all of the alternatives (phpNuke, postNuke, Mambo, Joomla, e107, etc) so I am growing wary of php and it's open source apps.

 

ColdFusion is my #1. PHP is a distant #2 for me.

 

My preference is Perl. Talk about flexibility! I've use Perl with MySQL, Oracle, SQLite, MSSQL, and Access. The great thing about Perl is it's a very mature language, with tons of free 3rd party modules.

 

What makes open source more vulnerable is their popularity and how easy it is to get the source. It has nothing to do with the language it is written in, however.

I've seen some amazingly sloppy coding in "commerical" programs. One reason why I often will write my own script for something even when an off-the-shelf script already exists.

Jennifer

 

PHP, but ASP .NET is very good I'm just used to PHP so I use it more. Plus most people don't have Windows servers to run ASP .NET

 

Programming languages (and associated frameworks) invite a certain style of programming. PHPs variable interpolation is an open invitation to write sql injection explotable code. Not to mention the exceptionally bad register_globals and magic quotes.

Of course the programmer always bears the formal responsibility, but the programming languages can certainly be constructed in such a way that even experienced programmers are fooled.

The frameworks can also be constructed in such a way that it is harder to write exploitable code. One example of a missed oppotunity is the getResponse().Write of JSP, ASP and ASP.NET. IMHO this method should write HTML encoded strings as default, leaving "raw" output to be emitted from something like e.g. Response.RawWrite.

ASP.NET has a default setting in which every form field is automatically inspected for XSS attempts. To be able to enter something like <script> tags you must explicitly allow for this through a directive/seting.

 

Languages can have vulnerabilities, some are more susceptible to things like SQL injections. SQL injections are easily stopped in CFML.

I also have a concern if a language is popular in regions known for it's hackers. CFML enjoys popularity in the US, Australia, and the UK and does particularily well with some governments. So it's popularity is outside of the former communist states so it's less likely to be the language of the hackers.

 

I'm suprised nobody mentioned Ruby

 

At the end of the day, the difference is in the tools. When you decide what language/framework you use, it is really about IDE, application server and DB.

Better stop or else we will end up with a Netbeans 5.5 versus Visual studio 2005 war.

 

Ruby is so March. It seemed to lose it's buzziness a while back and the March link may indicate it to be true.

 

I think PHP is best. I used asp first. But when i used PHP. I feel its much better than others languages. Everyone have different taste, different needs for website. Some suits ASP some PHP. BUT PHP suits me overall