asp.NET - php - jhtml - cfm ............

It's all personal preference really. Look into both, and see which is easier to get your head round.If you have any experience in programming, it will make some elements of both very familiar, and easier, to work with.
I think one is as good as the other. Most large database sites are done in PHP, this site happens to be in ASP as that's what the designers background is specialised in.
There's always the option of learning both, at some point, which could make you some big bucks along the road, as a web designer.

Thanks Hippy. I guess I should learn both asp and php. I am working on something right now but it will be most likely a asp site even though it will be a large database driven site. I keep hearing about php but I don't hear about why it is better than asp other than its free.

Well on my scripting learning list is SQL, asp, php, and cfm (not sure if cfm is really a scripting thing). I also heard about j2ee but it doesn't seem as popular as php or asp.

Anyway, I hope your skinning that audio-something windowblind skin

I had to mention it again; I love it!!

Excellent work by the way. I though it was very well done.

Hmmm. You don't want J2EE unless you want to learn JSP (The Java equivalent to ASP). Better off sticking with ASP or PHP. CFM is Cold Fusion, another propriety yet popular web server scripting language by Alliare (though now absorbed into MacroMedia). I think CFM is one of MikeB's area of expertise.

As for PHP vs. ASP for large database sites...hmmm...that's really more dependent on the database and site structure. Most PHP sites seem to use MySQL whereas ASP sites (being MS-centric sits in the first place) usually use MS SQL Server, though there is certainly nothing that locks you into such setups.

i wish i had learned php a while back. now i have asp in my head and have no desire to pick up the extra .net stuff. i haven't heard enough positive to back it, although i have been hearing more and more positive about php and it's supposed ease of use with perl scripting...which is a whole new arena for me as well.

right now i just dabble with mixing asp and html, while trying to throw in xml learning on the side as well...

to many languages out there and not enough bandwidth in my brain-housing...

to=too (before Jafa gits me)

and yes, gits=gits, not "gets" or "hits"...

Thanks guys for your info. I need to learn how to use asp or php and haow it connects to the database like Oracle or MySQL. I thought MySQL was Microsoft? I never heard of MS SQL.

So much work for me to do. So little time.

I forget who MySQL is made by, I'm not sure their organization even goes by anything other than MySQL. It is open source and free. MS SQL is short for Microsoft SQL, not free and not open source. I use both php and asp, I tend to use php when I am on a Unix/Linux backend and asp when I am on a Microsoft backend, simply because in order to have asp support on *nix you need to buy Chili!asp which is not cheap. Also php has a lot of quirks when you are running it on Windows. Asp has a visual basic style syntax to it and php has a c++ style syntax. As said above it's all based on preference but with real world experience I usually find myself stuck with one or the other depending on what the back end is. Hope this info helps.

/me wants Ruby. It's so clean.

Trouble with JSP is that I can't seem to find out exactly how much it is tied in with J2EE and all the servlet crap I do not wish to learn (Java is evil). Plenty of PHP versus ASP versus ColdFusion articles floating around, but nothing comparing these to JSP without mentioning Java as well.

MySQL is Swedish I think. My connection is screwed at the moment, so I can't check. See http://www.mysql.com for info.

JSPs are okay though like a bastardized version of ASP. I've only used it conjunction with WebLogic and WebSphere so I don't know how modular it is in other implementaions.

Perhaps open source Tomcat has a JSP implemetnation since its basically a servlet engine. JSP is nothing more than an archicture layered on top of servlets anyways. The JSPs compile down to servlets.

I'll just add that I run PHP on Windows on a constant basis with no problems or quirks, rebooting about once per week.

I wouldn't see a great need in studying both asp and php; I would pick one or the other and learn as much as you can. Database access is very, very simple in PHP, writing queries becomes very natural with a little practice, and most functionality is already built in. If you decide to go that route, all the software you need is completely free and there are insane amounts of free learning materials online. Here's a few links to get you started if PHP is your choice:

http://www.phpbuilder.com/
http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/PHP
http://www.php.net/
http://www.mysql.com/

Cool!

All this tuff is so helpful. I want to move forward in web/database design and just not sure where to turn. The schools out there seem to think asp or asp.NET is what they should teach. I ask about jhtml or php and I get a almost blank stare.



I want to be flexable and hirable. I aklso want my websites to be clean and well biult. I just seem to notice that allot of skins sites seem to want to go the php route but I guess that is because it is free and open source.

By the way, I'm trying out a file upload script in PHP with a MySQL databse on Windows XP. And I think I am running into a permission problem problem. How do I configure a specific directory in IIS to have the equivalent to chmod "777" on Unix?
Anybody knows?

hrm, dunno. All the permission problems I have ever had on MS have ended up being mistakes in the path or file name, for some reason you get "permission denied" if there are eccentricities in the path in a file() type action.

You sure it is saving it to the right spot? echo the target path and check if you haven't already.

oh, and make sure your slashes are turned in the Windows direction.

Ah? Slashes turned in the Windows direction? Hum, I guess I could try that.

"\" this way as oppossed to "/" this way.

Hey guys I asked this before but i hope you can help me out again. What website hosts are good? I want to use brinkster for one site of mine but the others are more than brinkster can handle. What are some good host sites for websites?

Tera-Byte has been really good for me. http://www.tera-byte.com/

you talking free hosting?

...free that handles asp and php and cgi and stuff?

echo is a great way to debug. Anytime you have a problem, echo or var_dump the variables you are using just to make sure they are what they are supposed to be at the line number that is giving you an error. I am awful about paths; i always forget to put a '/' on the end of a path and then .= the filneame onto the path variable, running the names together. OR I put '/' on both and end up with them doubled.


paxx: I seem to remember that Windows path slashes '\' have to be escaped '\\' in some PHP and MySQL, since they are the same as the escape character. If I am remembering correctly...

no free hosting. paid in full



I know I can't get what I want for free, and if it was free I wouldn't trust them. The cost should be somewhere between 12 and 24 a month depending on stuffs.

I'll check out Tera-Byte, thanks bakerstreet.

np. if you aren't gonna have tons of hits and transfer you can get a 99 dollar a year package with like 20 gigs of transfer and 99 email addies. You're not getting a huge pipe to yourself, but it should be fine for most people. Their other packages are pretty good, too.

Here's a link to the package I mentioned: http://www.tera-byte.com/hosting.cgi?plan=4U

Thanks. I needed the help. Its hard to find the right host