Thursday, August 15, 2019
PHP vs. ASP Scripting Software Research Paper Essay
ABSTRACT This paper examines the differences between the ASP (Active Server Pages) and PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) scripting languages. Both ASP and PHP are scripting languages that can be used to create dynamic web pages which are capable of interacting and exchanging information with databases. ASP is a Microsoft product, and is used with Internet Information Server (IIS) which runs on Microsoft Servers. PHP was originally designed by Rasmus Lerdorf, and was later modified by various people. As a parsing language, PHP can run both on Unix and Linux servers, and also has a version that runs on an NT server. This paper also discusses the differences in cost, speed, integration of features, speed, additional costs, base language, database connectivity and Platform Compatibility between both languages. This paper also presents some suggestions offer recommendations as to when one of these languages should be preferred over the other, and how efficiency can be maximized in the usage of each of these scripting languages Introduction             ASP and PHP are both website design scripting languages that are processed by backend severs like Apache Server and Windows OS. Apache Server is usually used for PHP and a Windows OS with IIS Server is used to process ASP scripted websites. PHP processed website scripts can also be processed by UNIX OS backend servers, while Window OS IIS backend servers are used to process ASP scripts. ASP.NET is part of the .NET Framework and is the core technology for developing web applications and XML Web Services. ASP.NET is a compiled, .NET-based environment; you can author applications in any .NET compatible language, including Visual Basic .NET, C#, and JScript .NET. Additionally, the entire .NET Framework is available to any ASP.NET application. Developers can easily access the benefits of these technologies, which include the managed common language runtime environment, type safety, inheritance, and so on. .NET developers write Web Parts using Visual Studio.NET 2003. The Web Part Framework is the basis for extensibility in Windows SharePoint Services. It allows developers to write custom components that plug into the SharePoint infrastructure by encapsulating web services and enterprise data as Web Parts. Web Part Pages are special ASP.NET pages which are the building blocks of a Windows SharePoint Services based data driven web site. Web page authors can use Microsoft FrontPage 2003 to leverage Windows SharePoint Services and use the Web Part Framework to easily build data driven web sites using a library of readily available web parts. Microsoft FrontPage 2003 integrates closely with Windows SharePoint Services and is the easiest and the most powerful web site design tool that enables creation of a new category of collaborative, scalable, data driven web sites. (http://www.sharepointcustomization.com/resources/whitepapers/webpartdocs/wp_asp_net.doc)            PHP and ASP are the two best web technologies in use today. In their own ways, they have created trust and market for their product and development environment, although many people are of the opinion that PHP is an all around better choice than ASP.            According to Anstey, â€Å"PHP belongs to a free software community and open source general purpose software which is very easy to use and correct its bugs from the community of developers around the world.†(Anstey 2003). ASP runs on an IIS server and is a free component with the Microsoft windows operating system. ASP offers various useful features like type safety, inheritance, and a managed common language runtime environment.            In a broad sense, PHP is scripting Language, while ASP.NET is a Designing Tool. Also, PHP contains mainly scripting tabs, with a minimum number of controls being used, while ASP.Net has a lot of controls to the designing process.           ASP.NET is a unified Web development platform that provides services necessary for developers to build enterprise-class Web applications. ASP.NET provides programming model and infrastructure for more secure, scalable, and stable applications. ASP.NET is a compiled, .NET based web environment developed in .NET compatible languages like Visual Basic .NET, C#, JScript.NET, etc. Additionally, the entire .NET Framework is available to any ASP.NET application. Developers can easily access the benefits of this technology, which includes the managed common language runtime environment, type safety, and inheritance.             From many views and perspectives, PHP is an overall better choice than ASP. Although both ASP and PHP are languages used to build Dynamic Web sites that can interact with Databases and exchange information. ASP (Active Server Pages) is from Microsoft and is used with IIS (Internet Information Server) that runs on Microsoft Servers. PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is from Rasmus Lerdorf, who originally designed this parsing language which was later modified by different people. It runs on Unix and Linux servers and it also has an NT server version. (Pires, Halstatt 2005. ASP vs. PHP. Retrieved 18, February 2008 from http://www.webpronews.com/expertarticles/2005/12/22/asp-vs-php)            The foundation of all Web applications is that they deliver dynamic content over a protocol which by model is stateless. Most of the ASP.NET developments fall in client-server architecture programming model. Minimal points to be considered for a typical web application modeled as client-server architecture are given below. User interface and client environment (Page layout). Data verification, transfer and store. Security. Scalability, reliability and availability of the application. Optimized resource utilization and performance. Handling unpleasant instances gracefully. Navigation.            PHP traces back to the development of Perl and C which emerged quite successfully as a result of the contribution of the various programmers around the globe and as a result of its being an open community. The various versions came out successfully through 1997 to 2004 where the features were added and successfully taken up to cater to the development paradigm of the large scale of internet users.            ASP came handy with Windows 95 with the features of IIS server installed. It was an established standard which takes into account the various databases into consideration and is based on the COM model. The various differences among PHP and ASP make sure that all to a good extent the feature are compiled and carries enough advantage to understand the loopholes and make sure that all the various utilities are enforced well. Differences between PHP and ASP            PHP and ASP depict a large array of differences in the form of various factors. Some differences between ASP and PHP include differences in cost, speed, integration of features, speed, additional costs, base language, database connectivity and Platform Compatibility. Cost             As PHP is not singly owned by any individual or an organization, it does not require purchase before use. â€Å"PHP uses a database technology named MySQL for back-end support. MySQL is also available free of cost.†(DuBois, 2002). The hosting and deployment of PHP webpages into the Linux server is quite affordable and can be done with ease.             â€Å"ASP is synchronized with the Microsoft Windows operating system and comes along with it, thereby bearing the cost of the operating system.†(Glass 2004) Moreover, hosting ASP pages over the internet is expensive and features like email, file uploading and other features are quite expensive at the same time. PHP is free, but ASP is not free. If you want to use ASP, you have to use IIS, and if you want to use IIS, you have to buy Windows. Traditionally, the cost of Windows has been high. Microsoft has been aggressively trying to reduce this factor but they’re hardly going to give Windows away for free. The cost of running an ASP-based website implies a full Windows server platform; development costs are higher, software licenses are expensive and speed, security and flexibility are all sacrificed. (Anstey, M 2003)             To run ASP programs, one needs IIS installed on a Windows platform server, which is not free. PHP programs can run on Linux, which is free. Even the connectivity of the database is expensive in the case of ASP as MS-SQL is a Microsoft product that needs to be purchased. PHP generally uses MySQL, which is freely available.            Many of the tools used in PHP are free of charge and a lot of PHP code can be found in open source forums, because PHP is open source. â€Å"PHP also has inbuilt features like ftp, email from a web page and even encryption mechanisms but such features are not built into ASP, which requires some additional components. Therefore additional costs might be incurred for such components.†(Pires, Halstatt 2005. ASP vs. PHP. Retrieved 18, February 2008 from http://www.webpronews.com/expertarticles/2005/12/22/asp-vs-php) Speed            In terms of speed, PHP is faster than ASP, because when the speed of PHP and ASP are compared, PHP would have the upper hand. â€Å"This is due to the fact that PHP code runs faster than ASP. Also, ASP is built on COM based architecture, which is an overhead for the server, whereas PHP code runs in its own memory space.†(Pires, Halstatt 2005. ASP vs. PHP. Retrieved 18, February 2008 from http://www.webpronews.com/expertarticles/2005/12/22/asp-vs-php) Integration with operating environments and databases             PHP makes sure that all the operating environments are taken care to its fullest capability and is compatible with Windows, UNIX, Linux, Solaris and others. Its platform dependency format makes sure that all the various compatibility with operating environments makes it quite viable in nature. PHP integrates with the databases like MySQL and others in a great fashion. â€Å"ASP on the other hand is compatible with Windows only and makes sure that Microsoft oriented databases like MSSQL server would be well integrated with it. For other database platforms it requires to download various libraries and components for integration and workability.†(Hull, 2002) Performance             PHP is an interpreted language and make sure that the interpreted nature makes it fast for getting the customization done. The memory requirement of the PHP pages is quite optimizable and runs very fast with the greater understanding of the various features. Database connections of PHP are also quite flexible and make sure that all the various database functionality like stability, transactions, replication, triggers and stored procedures are handled quite well (Merrall, 2000).             ASP on the other hand is a compiled language and the software glitches are quite often not corrected or take a long time to get it done. The compiled nature makes sure that all the various factors like throughput and response time is quite low for the hosted pages. Its exclusivity with Microsoft windows operating system makes it platform independent with regard to various hosting and access problems. PHP offers the best integration of speed and performance, and ensures that all the various promises are met for catering to the web development. ASP is most suitable with the Microsoft platform and makes sure that all the features are captured and managed for the various services. (Zhang, 1999). Base Language           ASP has a type of syntax that resembles Visual Basic, and is closely related to Microsoft products. In contrast, PHP is based on the C++ language, and the syntax used for PHP looks a lot like C/C++ programming syntax. â€Å"C/C++ is still considered the best programming language by many programmers and people who love this language would surely feel more comfortable with the syntax of PHP.†(Pires, Halstatt 2005. ASP vs. PHP. Retrieved 18, February 2008 from http://www.webpronews.com/expertarticles/2005/12/22/asp-vs-php) Enhanced capabilities and compatibility               These include file transfer programs and utilities, compression of data, uploading of files, integration of XML an MD5, encryption techniques and email facilities are not included in ASP, even if it does it requires the support of large third party packages installed, which are very easily integrated in PHP. PHP.net (2008) mentions that complex functions like dynamic images, IMAP, SNMP, dynamic flash, PDF, native access to Oracle, Ovrimos, Postgre, Sybase, mSql, MSSQL, Ingres, Interbase and Informix databases, LDAP, and sockets and many others are easily integrated with PHP, â€Å"however it would create a big problem with its integration with ASP. PHP is compatible with various web servers for its functioning however ASP requires it to be easily integrated with only IIS and PWS†as explained by Pires (2005).            PHP programs can run on various platforms like Linux, Unix, Windows and Solaris whereas ASP is mainly associated with Windows platforms. However, ASP can run on a Linux platform with ASP-Apache installed on the server. PHP is based on C++ language and the syntax used in PHP is quite similar to C/C++. C/C++ is still considered the best programming language by many programmers and people who love this language would surely feel more comfortable with the syntax of PHP. ASP on the other hand has a more Visual Basic kind of syntax that again is closely related to only Microsoft products. So, it depends on the individual, and which language he or she is comfortable with.           For Database connectivity, PHP is being extremely flexible, and can connect to various databases, the most popular being MySQL. ASP mainly uses MS-SQL for databases. Conclusion             Although both ASP and PHP are good web server end languages for web development, there are some differences between them that should be considered to ensure that factors like cost, installation, performance, and compatibility issues are economized to the full extent. Both languages have advantages specific to various users. Some would argue that both languages have their own importance, and usage of either ASP or PHP depends on the user’s requirements, the language and the platform in use. â€Å"If a user is looking for some e-commerce application development then ASP is probably the ideal choice. This does not mean that PHP cannot provide e-commerce solutions, but a lot of people tend to choose ASP in such instances.†(Pires, Halstatt 2005). If we talk about developing a discussion board then ASP is equally capable but some people feel that the best discussion boards are developed using PHP.             While PHP offers the best integration of speed and performance, and ensures that most web development requirements are met, ASP is most suitable with the Microsoft platform, and enables features to be captured and managed for various services. References Anstey, Marty (2003). PHP vs ASP. Retrieved 19, February 2008 from             http://marty.anstey.ca/programming/php/articles/ An Architectural Introduction to Web Parts and ASP.NET A Microsoft ® Office FrontPage ®           2003 White Paper. (Retreived from    http://www.sharepointcustomization.com/resources/whitepapers/webpartdocs/wp_asp_net.doc Argence d Ricardo (2008). Web Hosting, PHP vs AS.P. Retrieved 18, February 2008 from            http://articles.topofhosting.com/web-hosting-php-asp.php DuBois, Paul (2002). MySQL Cookbook. O’Reilly, October 2002. Glass, Michael (2004). Beginning PHP, Apache, Hull, Sean (2002). PHP vs. ASP.NET Redux. Retrieved 18, February 2008 from           http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/columns/hull_php2.html Merrall, Graeme (2000). PHP/MySQL Tutorial MySQL ® Web Development. Wiley Publicizing sons. ISBN: 0-7645-5744-0. PHP.net (2008). See: http://www.php.net/manual/en Pires, Halstatt (2005). ASP vs. PHP. Retrieved 18, February 2008 from           http://www.webpronews.com/expertarticles/2005/12/22/asp-vs-php Zhang, Ying (1999). Web Database Step-by-Step Guide.
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