Most used, Asp or Php ?

[piniyini]

Hello everyone,

I would like to know which language is most used on the web, Asp or Php ?

I noticed that there are more Asp devoloping sites than Php, any particular reason ?

Also, is it true that Php can do everything Asp can, and more ?

Which language do web programmers find easier, and what is the best way to learn ?

I am asking these questions (as a 16 year old) because I do not know which web language to go into.

I know I am asking a lot of questions, it's because I have been curious for a long time.


Thanks in advance.


* (if this is the wrong forum, please move me)

[redhead]

take a look at this poll at HotScripts.com, im sure you'll see an answer to your question:

http://www.hotscripts.com/polls/results.hsp

:thumbsup:

[Mhtml]

I guessed that would happen....:( Nothing wrong with asp though :)

[ronaldb66]

Nothing wrong with ASP, but since it is a commercial product, it costs a hosting provider a bundle to provide it, while PHP, being open source, costs virtually nothing. That, and the fact that it is a powerful and feature-rich language can explain its popularity.

[brothercake]

Do beware of polls like that, though. While it appears interesting, the bottom line is that the data is virtually meaningless - you would not be able to extrapolate from that that 58.6% of developers use php.

[redhead]

brothercake has a point, and he is probably right, but i posted it becuase i thought that it showed some kind of trend - although it may well not be very helpful.

[brothercake]

For sure; I didn't mean to be a damp squib. I merely wanted to point that with this, as with the vast majority of online polling, there is no demographic data, and no proper sampling - no way of knowing if the sample is representative of the population as a whole.

For those interested in the subject of statistical reliability in polling, an excellent source is http://www.mori.com/sampling/sampling.shtml

[firepages]

60+% of all webservers run apache on *NIX , less than 25% of webservers are IIS/MS, PHP is the most popular apache module at over 40% (thats not including the CGI's) (www.securityspace.com)

netcraft.com reckon that adds up to 9million domains minimum running PHP (probably closer to 11million) , only PERL would beat that (and not as a server module (though its catching up))

Of course its quality that counts not quantity, 1 good site is worth a 100 dodgy homepages, and ASP is more used in larger applications than PHP, but thats slowly changing, Deutche-Bank are increasing their PHP usage considerably both internally and externally.

It also appears that Yahoo (who already use PHP in several sections) are moving to PHP for all future programming... if that prooves to be the case then the ?largest? site on the web will be PHP powered (4500+ servers)

but of course if .NET actually delivers things could be different... but first MS have to produce a reliable stable & secure Platform from which to use it, & if they do it will be a first ;)

[haskins]

ASP UNLESS YOU INTEND TO GET A JOB WITH ONE OF THOSE TWO HUGE COMPANIES THAT HAPPEN TO USE PHP. MOST COMPANIES FIND IT FINANCIALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO COMPLETELY SWITCH OVER TO SOMETHING ELSE SO YOUR VERY SAFE WITH ASP. PHP IS THE ONLY QUESTIONABLE ROAD AT THE MOMENT FOR A GOOD LONG WHILE. THERE NO REASON YOU CAN'T LEARN ABOUT PHP LATER AS WELL. BEING INTO PROGRAMMING YOU MUST EXPECT TO BE STUDYING CONTINUOUSLY ANYWAY.

[Roy Sinclair]

haskins,

There's a lot of demand for PHP and there's also a lot of demand for ASP. It's not a either/or situation and the original question even leaves out the JSP/J2EE & Cold Fusion which are additional alternatives which have respectable markets. Any programmer worth their salt could easily transition from one language to another anyhow but I would recommend a newcomer learn one language first before trying to tackle others.

Right now I'm writing ASP pages, a couple years ago I was working with Perl and Cold Fusion and in within the next couple years I suspect I'll be doing more Cold Fusion and some J2EE code as well as some .NET code. Six years ago I was feeding dinosaurs (mainframes, you know COBOL and that ilk). Flexability is the key, dogma is bad, I don't care what product you're talking about.

P.S. See the key labeled "Caps Lock" on your keyboard? Press that key until the letters you type no longer come out all upper-case. In the online world all upper case is taken as if the writer were shouting and is considered very rude.

[brothercake]

I'd agree with Roy - once you've learnt one language it's a lot easier to transfer that knowledge to another, than it is to try to learn 2 languages concurrently. That way lies mania methinks ...

Simply because it's free and so well documented, you may find PHP a good place to start.

[firepages]

Haskins the question was which language was most widely used scripting language on the web, I think the anwser is probably PERL, but since the Q asked specifically about ASP/PHP ...

Yahoo and Deutche-Bank are 2 outstanding examples but as you say thats just 2 sites, however I think that this is a beginning not an end, and dont forget the other 9million ;)

[piniyini]

Thanks guys for all your input.


Seems to me like Php rules, so thats what I'll go for (unless something really serious come up ...)

[ionsurge]

Don't get me wrong, but php is great, but I have found that the majority of large sites are built with .asp.


Ionsurge.

[oracleguy]

It also has to do with what your previous programming background is. Like I have an extensive background in Visual Basic and I know some JavaScript, so ASP was the obvious choice since I was already very fimiliar with the syntax and most of the commands. Now, I haven't use PHP very much so I can't say which language it most closly resembles (if any) but the point is, it depends on your background.

Futhermore, like others have said, once you learn one language, it is easy to move over to another. I'll probably end up learn PHP in the next few years. And I know I will definetly be learning C++

[Mhtml]

Well, my background isn't so extensive but in 1993 When we got our first computer a Commodore 286-12 I started into B.A.S.I.C programming which I did until I was around 9 and then stopped.

So about 2 months ago I started ASP coz my design ability was meaningless now, you need to be able to program. BASIC made it easier for me and I learnt at a fairly rapid rate until now when I am just tinkerin' about learning all of the finer aspects before I move onto .NET & php in a month or 2.

My plan is by February - March 2003 to know asp php & asp.net so I can just focus on getting better at python and C++

Also since we are on the subject of languages what is asp+ when is coming what advantages will it have over asp and .net?