At a Glance: ASP.NET vs. PHP
At a Glance: ASP.NET vs. PHP
In the world of web development, the choice of which
development language to use commonly comes down to two popular choices.
Web applications, specifically those relying on back end databases,
are typically being created using either Microsoft's ASP.Net language,
or the Open Source alternative language of PHP.
Reasons why one might choose one over the other can
include: The cost of development tools, or availability of such
tools, or even ones comfort level with the Open Source initiative.
The goal of this article is to provide some perspective on reasons
why one might choose one over the other.
Active Server Pages or ASP has long been an option for creating
dynamic web content. Active Server Pages facilitates the ability
to use databases such as Access or SQL just to name a few, to create
dynamic, feature rich websites.
The work going on behind the scenes in serving up the dynamic content
is being done at the server level by the Active Server Pages source
code. Microsoft has spent a great deal of time and resources promoting
their .Net family of programming languages of which ASP.Net is a
member.
In order to develop with ASP.Net one must obtain the extremely
expensive Microsoft Visual Studio Programming Suite. While expensive,
Visual Studio is an asset to any programmer due to its vast amount
of features. As with all of Microsoft's products, support and updates
are constantly made available for ASP.Net.
The shear amount of features that Microsoft packs into Visual Studio,
coupled with Microsoft's extensive support make certainly make ASP.Net
an attractive solution for any corporation's web development needs,
but the cost can be prohibitive, if not impossible to afford for
the individual web developer.
PHP which is in its 5th revision now, is an Open Source web development
language that also facilitates the creation of feature rich, dynamic
websites that can use databases. Being Open Source means simply
that PHP isn't owned by anyone.
Just as with Active Server Pages, the work going on behind the
scenes of serving up the dynamic web content is being done by PHP
at the server level. As with most Open Source products, the resources
available to a PHP developer are free of charge. This makes PHP
extremely attractive to the independent web developer.
There are some commercial quality development suites available
from companies like Zend, but there is also wealth of free resources
just a Google Search away. Because there is really no corporate
entity behind PHP, support and development on PHP is done by the
community of its users and developers themselves. Surprisingly this
does not seem to adversely affect the ability to find support for
PHP.
All in all, ASP.Net and PHP are both excellent options, offering
basically the same functionality. Whether the decision comes down
to the cost of initial investment, or the comfort level one has
regarding Open Source, or something else entirely, the end result
depends upon the mastery of whichever language is chosen.
About the Author Ian Wilson is a support
analyst for Apollo Hosting.
Mr. Wilson brings years of experience in coding and system administration
to the Apollo Hosting support team. Apollo Hosting provides website
hosting, ecommerce hosting, vps hosting, and web design services
to a wide range of customers.
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