Hey Urlman,
You are definitely a dedicated guy. I like you was one of the first folks surfing the old silicon investor when they only had 5,000 members. hehe. See you are dedicated PTSC holder. This board should be called URLMAN. This is the same Bryan from 3 years ago. Still hold PTSC long.
I've been busy, so I dont have time to surf SI that much, but I keep my eye on it including this board.
Regarding ASP and JSP. ASP (Active server pages) is very common and popular way to create dynamic websites. It was developed by microsoft and provides a way to integrate javascript or vbscript, visual basic apps, J++, C++ script or programming into an html page to create web applications. Microsofts free web server IIS comes with the capability to run asp pages (html with programming script in it) and also the ability to use various active x components or objects for building robust web applications.
The problem with ASP is if you use it, you basically must use a Microsoft server NT and IIS to use it. Lately, however, a company named chilisoft has developed an app you can install on a unix server to run ASP pages.
enter JSP. You guessed it javaserver pages. With the rising popularity of java, you could only guess that java would become another option for building web apps. You have probaly all seen some kind of "java applet" in a web page that loads in your browser for rollovers, animations etc. Very cool, but also very slow because it must load an applet into your browser and run, applets are toys.
But not to worry, The real power will come with the use of javaserver pages or java servlets. Javaserver pages are very similiar to ASP, but the language is java, and like ASP, java beans and swing provide a way to build all kinds of cool object components etc for building web apps. java servlets are like cgi scripts (perl - a common yet archaic language for lots of little web apps you see on the web.) They run server side and are very fast.
Why not stick to good old common cgi and perl? Because perl scripts are memory hogs and run a process in memory everytime they are used. A lot of intense perl scripts can bog down your server. java servlets will probaly eventually replace cgi perl scripts because they are fast and efficient.
Which is better ASP or JSP?
It really depends on your hardware and database. IF I was running NT with IIS and SQL 7 for my database, ASP is a great choice because web tools like Visual Interdev and Macromedias new cool Ultradev provide such a powerful integrated environment for bulding web apps, especially with ODBC strong compliant databses. Also I dont need to run any special application server to run ASP. ASP is native to IIS server.
Javaserver pages and servlets are pretty new, and the tools and components available for JSP aren't as robust as ASP, but that will change. As a matter of fact, I really have seen a large growth in the use of JSP and tools that support it including Allaire Jrun and Ultradev to name a few. JSP is also cool because its not platform specific to one vendor (Microsoft hehe). I can have a linux web server and an AS400 database and use JSP. Ahhh but one caveat, you must install a java server or application server on your web server. Right now, JSP and javaserlets are not native to any Linux, Unix, AS 400, NT etc web server that I know of. The reality, is that I could use ASP to build apps to retreive data from any of these platforms with ODBC compliance. Dont be fooled, Java is only open to all platforms, if all platforms natively support it and they dont.
So whys JSP so cool?
Because ASP as cool as it is, Can get very messy. Pages of script here that interact with an ASP page there that utilize this component there. and so on. Lots o files or lots of script in files. with javaservlets, In my opinion, building web apps seems to be a cleaner less gunky full world of html pages with script embedded.
I'm new to using JSP, but it seems java servlets have these some advantages which you can read more about here:
coolservlets.com
Were I work we have gone with an AS400 running Db2. I thought Ugh! but IBM is really pushing B2B stuff and SQL 7 as cool as it is, is still not used widely with Super large scale enterprise databases. (although I'm sure thats gonna change soon with win 2000 and SQL 2000) their java web application server (websphere) is not too expensive and it integrates REALLY well with my fav editor Macromedia Ultradev Dreamweaver. Notice macromedia's site uses JSP now.
So after all this blabbing ASP and JSP both have advantages especially depending on your hardware and software. Eventually I think more Unix, Linux servers will nativley come with JSP support built in and that would be very cool. I just want standards, and right now java is the one platform that everyone is pointing toward to be a standard programming language for the web and other cool devices.
Whew ok I'm done go PTSC! |
