php and asp

fatywombat

Im sure there will be a little bias in the answer but which one is overall better and how much harder is php to learn than asp?

bradgrafelman

I've never gotten around to fully learning ASP, but I have heard and fully support the opinion that PHP is very easy to learn.

Throughout my experience programming in PHP, I've run into very few problems where I honestly couldn't find a way to solve or work around it using PHP. Looking at PERL and some of the other alternatives, I found that my PHP workarounds/solutions had been less complex but still got the job done.

If you're a beginner programmer, or don't want to get involved in a complex language, or are simply looking for the least complex yet functional language, I myself would recommend PHP.

As I said, I myself can't recommend PHP over ASP, since I have never learned ASP. If someone out there that knows ASP and disagrees with me, feel free to post.

thorpe

i think asp (vbscript) is a little easier than php, everything is spelled out for you. but the benifits of php far outway asp's simplicity.

its not that i think php is difficult, just a little more than asp.

fatywombat

Thanks for the replies. I dont really have any programming skills except for basic asp and html/css (if thast even considered). I understand the basics of variables and if else and other statements. With this being said, how long would it take for me to get a good grasp on php (assuming i actually sit down and do it) =]

BTW im getting Beginning PHP 5 by Wrox press. Any1 heard anything good about the book?

dgrinberg

I work with both!

I think that it really depends on what you are going to be doing with your site.

ASP hosting is a little more expensive than PHP hosting. ASP is a little slower than PHP.

ASP is simpler than PHP. That makes it a little easier to learn, but once you get into it, doing anything a little more complicated is much easier in PHP. Being a language written by the people that actually use it, there are so many useful little functions, that ASP just doesn't have.

Anything more complicated in ASP requires installing external components (DLL's)! Which a lot of hosts dont like to do.

My recomendation, is if you are setting up a new small site., going for cheap hosting, and dont know either ASP or PHP, then go for PHP. The learning curve is not all that much steeper, anyway you can get all the help you need here!

fatywombat

alright awsome... thanks for the replies. These forums rock =]

bretticus

Sounds like the job has been done here but I felt I needed to cast in my two cents. I have used asp and php for about 5 years. I started out using ASP in fact, I have completed numerous projects written entirely in ASP. AND ...

If you have to choose one, CHOOSE PHP!

ASP is a dying language for one. Almost all of our MS development these days is in DotNet. ASP is actually VBScript with a few web server objects built in. It was never really designed for Web devopent but in simple cases got the job done. It is completely worthless when using arrays (IMHO.) There were many features that require paying for 3rd party objects to get what you can get done natively and for free in PHP. PHP is also closer to a "c-type" lanuage and will aid you picking up other languages as well.

Don't ride a dead horse, get on the PHP train ;-)