ASP.Net vs. Linux, also ActiveX

Anon

This post didn't really fit any other forum categories so i stuck it here where i thought it might be read most..

Here goes!

I'm a rather avid ASP programmer... I like my asp and my visual basic.... however, im not too fond of how microsoft is handling things with its upcoming .NET ... i started doing some php programming a bit back... i like php.. it's sleek and not cumbersome at all...

however, i never really converted to php simply because i was already using a windows server, and i was into visual basic programming quite a bit...

i have some ideas to propose... what happens when asp.net comes out? asp.net is compiled. now, i know php is the leader in speed right now, but compiled sure will beat even php... what does the php world plan to do about this? you may respond that php is "fast enough" ... but hopefully there's a better solution...

also, i've always wondered if php has some sort of equivalent to asp and activex ... right now i can make active x dll's in my visual basic and call them from asp... now, this is VERY handy.... this extend's asp's usability to as far as visual basic and visual c++'s usability... anything i can create in c++ or vb6, i can use in an asp page.... does php have some equivalent? perhaps you can use activex in php, but i want to know if there's anything like this on the linux side of things... can u create some sort of compiled class for php with about as much ease as you can for asp?

i really would like to convert to linux/php/mysql... it would open up my options a fair bit, as i can still program on windows, but then i could also program on virtually any machine! and for free 🙂 ...

i would really appreciate any input... heh... try and convert me, im willing!!!

Anon

compiled vs uncompiled -- php is fast enough -- heh.. there are solutions to make it go faster -- zend optimizer, apc (http://apc.communityconnect.com/) come to mind ..
COM support -- PHP supports it on the Windows side -- so interfacing with all of your C++/VB components should be a breeze ..
COM style functionaility on Linux -- I understand what your asking, but unsure of the possibilities -- so far I haven't really had a need to use that type of a connection in my PHP apps (I have used classes, system scripts, etc..) -- maybe someone else is more informed on this.
Go with PHP/Linux .. its great! 🙂

[deleted]

.net is compiled; so is PHP when used with a caching accelerator. The'thing' wth compiled languages is that they require you to compile the code before you can test it, which is a major pain in the booty during development.
And yes, PHP is fast enough. People are always worried about performance, but how much performance do you really need?
I've seen a sun400Mhz take 1 million hits/hour to a php script with mysql database functions. Need I say more? ;-)

Performance is in the eye of the beholder, if you write a crappy .net app, it won't perform well. If you write a good ap in PERL, it will outperform the .net app.

More importantly though, can ASP and .NET do enough? I hear you speak of extensions to ASP all the time. Is that because ASP is lacking som vital functionality? or are your extensions simply faster than ASP code? 🙂

2&3. kind of, you can just add shared libraries etc to PHP: http://www.php.net/manual/en/zend.php

Anon

About compiled or not compiled, I think John an Vincent had said enough.

Now, about Active X, you should use classes, build apps in C o C++ e use system calls to them, carefully... or, for more complex stuff, build your owm modules.

That's one of the strenghs in PHP being Open Source.. you can develop upon it, and change the interptreter if you wish.

Anon

I really appreciate the input guys....

no, the speed of php is not a HUGE issue, i just thought i'd point that asp.net has the up on that one...

as for asp extensions... well i could code all the code that i made in my active x dll into plain asp, however since an activex dll is compiled it runs tenfold faster which is ideal... and since it sounds like i can use my current activex stuff with php in a windows interface, it should help bridge the transition for me... it is not that asp is lacking in itself (although component-less uploads are a pain in asp), just that components are generally faster...

as for the comment about a well programmed php page being faster than a poorly programmed asp.net page, i totally agree.. 🙂

i suppose classes would be sufficient to the need for an activex equivalent... i'd rather not delve into writing mods... i just was curious if there was a way to do it in a similar way on linux 🙂...

the nice thing about activex, is that u can harness the whole operating system's power... you can change the registry, whatever u could make a normal exe do!!!

neways, it looks as though any scripts i build in the future will be done through php.... one question.... since all the functions are database specific in php, how do u design so that the script can take use of multiple databases easily? can u do something like this?:

vardb = "mysql"
vardb_connect() ? will this then act as a mysql_connect() ???

again, thanks!

Anon

There are a variety of database abstraction layers that will give you the flexibility you desire --> phplib, pear, adodb..

[deleted]

Like John said, it's near peanuts to write a good database abstraction layer to make your database functions database-independant. (or at least partially)

Anon

There is absolutely no problem with compiling asp.net pages. You upload your asp.net page to the server, and the first time the page is being displayed, the server automatically compiles it.

This is REALLY cool !

Furthermore, if you can compile it, there's probably not any problems with your code. This is a nice check, and the asp.net compiler has a really good and thorough debugger; the best I have seen for any compiler yet.