What is ASP?
Active Server Pages (ASP) is a technology that enables you to make dynamic and interactive web pages. ASP is processed by the server to dynamically produce web pages and thus does not affect the type of browser the site visitor is using. When an ASP page is accessed by a browser, the web server interprets any ASP commands contained within the web page before sending the produced HTML to the browser. Simply opening an ASP page in a browser will not do. It must be requested through a web server that supports ASP hence, the name Active Server Pages. No server, no active pages.

What are the benefits of ASP?
ASP is very easy to learn. It is built into Windows 2000/2003 and can be installed on most Windows versions. Maintaining an ASP site is simpler because of SSI (Server-Side Includes). It decreases the number of HTML files and web sites can be maintained without HTML knowledge.

What scripting languages are used with ASP?
The default scripting language used for writing ASP is VBScript, although you can use other scripting languauges, like Jscript – Microsoft’s version of JavaScript.

My Web site is hosted on a Linux Server, Can I still utilize ASP?
No, ASP / ASP.NET will be supported on Windows based server hosting.

How does ASP compare to PHP?
One of ASP’s major strengths over PHP is that it is not tied to one language, but can operate with VBSript, Jscript, PerlScrip and PythonScript, etc. In ASP, the dominant model for database access is ADO, which provides a degree of database independence. PHP has separate functions for each database type and requires an additional layer to achieve that same degree of independence.

What Can ASP Do For My Website?
You can add a lot of interactivity & professionalism with ASP driven scripts such as:

Live support, content management systems, collaboration areas for your staff, shopping carts, forums, web based email, catalog with inventory search, product reviews, news, content syndication, instant messengers and more. To find more examples, do a search on your favorite search engine for “ASP Scripts”.

Is There Anything I Can Do With ASP And Not With Others?
Most other languages can do what ASP does. But because of ASP’s tight integration with Microsoft products, you will find it excels when you need to use incorporate technology such as .NET.

What’s The Difference Between ASP and ASP.NET?
Without getting too technical, ASP.NET is the ‘new’ ASP. It offers better performance & easier maintenance. For the programmer however it is a huge difference and requires some re-thinking of methods. The good news is both ASP and ASP.NET can co-exist at the same time.

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  Introduction to Linux Web Hosting
  Introduction to PHP Web Hosting
  Introduction to Windows Web Hosting
  Introduction to ASP Web Hosting
  Introduction to FrontPage Web Hosting
  Step By Step guide on Changing Host
  Quick Guide to Search Engine Submissions
  The 5 Key Steps To Promoting Your Website

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