All About ASP
We live in the world where objects rule, whether the luxury items, or the immortal race of technology gadgets. The dominance of the objects is not only limited to the paradigm of social life, it also rules the family of programming language. Unlike other programming languages where program object is nothing a dry & boring assembly of syntactic code lines, the program object in the world of object oriented paradigm is active and nearly alive, it involves real world objects. A real world object which has a name, have certain attributes, occupies a space and performs certain activities. For example, a flower is a real world object and it certainly occupies space. The attributes related to a flower can be fragrance or its color & the activities related to a flower can be open, close or wither. Without using the actual syntax of a programming language, a demo program would look like this:
<code>
Flower.Fragrance= None
Flower.Color= Yellow
IF Sun.IsSet THEN
Flower.Close
ELSE
Flower.Open
</code>
The object flower relates to the property of Sun. And this way relating to the objects of Object oriented programming is easier. The programming language that are based on Objective C, C#, Perl, Java, PHP, Python and C++. Of all the object oriented programming languages, the ones which are commercially important is Java developed by Sun Microsystem, Visual VB.NET and C# both designed for Microsoft’s .NET platform.
The paradigm of object oriented programming has helped us survive the fast pace of the web world full of websites and web-based applications. In the past 10 years the field of website design, functionality and style has greatly evolved. Because of the possibilities and choices offered by the advanced techno, the business which earlier had static websites are changing to dynamic ones. The web visitors like dynamism and it is said that the number of web visitors play a significant role in determining the income of the business. Going Dynamic is the need of the hour. But how and by which platform? Asp Dot Net, a platform of Microsoft Technology based on this paradigm is the popularly used for satisfying the quest of dynamic websites. This platform allows the web designers to create dynamic websites, web services and web technologies for small to large sized corporations.
What is ASP?
Have you ever noticed .asp file extension in a website address? If so, that means the website is using ASP scripting.
- Stands for Active server Page
- It is scripting engine brought by Microsoft
- It is a collection of statements that runs inside Internet Information Services.
ASP is an acronym used for Active Server Page and is used for feature-rich dynamic websites.
It is basically an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) page, which includes multiple scripts. And before the page is actually sent onto the screen of the user, the multiple scripts are processed on the Microsoft web server. The very first server-side script engine by Microsoft was ASP Classic. ASP Classic was introduced via Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack as an add-on to the IIS. Later, in the initial release of Windows 2000 it was included as a free component of the Windows Server 2000.
It’s involvement with the programs running on the server for tailoring the page as requested by the web-user makes it somewhat similar to the CGI application or to the server-side include.
For every request made by the web-user for a webpage, the webpage script at the server end makes use of that very request for accessing the data from a DB. Once the data is accessed from the DB, the webpage script at the server end customizes the requested webpage dynamically before it is actually visible on the screen.
What is an Active Server Page file?
- It is a similar to Hyper Text Markup Language file.
- It may contain HTML, XML, scripts and text.
- The execution of the scripts in an Active Server Page file is done on the server.
- The extension “.asp” follows the file.
As mentioned it is a Microsoft IIS’s feature. The process of creating server side scripting is similar to that of a regular HTML page and can be very efficiently delivered to any web browser. Other than using ActiveX Data Objects program statements for making Active Server Pages in the HTML file, an active Server Page can be created by integrating a server script written in VBscript or Jscript. Whenever there is a choice to make a b/w client side script or server side script, the use of the server-side ASP is recommended by Microsoft. The reason is the client side scripts like JavaScript may not work with the older versions of web-browsers, whereas using server-side script may result into displayable HTML page.
How is ASP different from HTML?
- Whenever an HTML file is requested by the end user via web-browser, only the file is returned by the server.
- Whenever an Active Server Page file is requested by the end user via web-browser, the request is forwarded to the server page engine via IIS. Thereafter engine reads the file line by line and further the script is executed. Finally, in the form of plain HTML, the server page file is returned to the browser.
What exactly can Active Server Page do for us?
- Brings dynamic quotient to a webpage, thus the content of a webpage can be edited or modified dynamically.
- The queries made via HTML forms can be dynamically responded.
- Ensures easy access to any DB and further returns the result of the request to the web browser.
- For making the webpage more useful, it can be customized accordingly.
- Using Active Server Page scripting engine ensures simplicity and speed over Perl or CGI scripting.
- As the Active Server Page coded cannot be viewed from a web provides, it keeps security intact.
- The pressure of n/w traffic can be handled via smart Active Server Programming tricks.
What are advantages of using ASP as server scripting language?
Being a server scripting language, it has an ability to control logic of the web application. As a response to request forwarded by the web user, the execution of the Server Page scripts results with HTML text onto the screen of the user. Unlike JavaScript, where scripting necessitates coding in HTML as well, with Active Server Page scripting there is no necessitation for writing simple HTML pages. Also, for execution of the server script, there is no necessitation for container. The advantages are:
- Performance
- Provision of 3-tier architecture.
- Accords a simple way for deployment of new app or its maintenance.
- Astonishing compatibility score with over 55 languages.
- A consistent programming model.
- Support for Tools
- Inbuilt data caching module
- Security Intact
- Web applications becomes Rapid
- Performance
- Easy installation and easy to learn
- Learning becomes even easier with online tutorials.
What are the disadvantages of using ASP as server scripting language?
- High installation costs: A proper installation of Internet Information Services on a Windows server is needed for execution of Active server pages. For connecting server pages to DB, you may need to buy MS-SQL. Are there are no inbuilt features, you may need add-ons which will cost extra money.
- Lower Speed: As it is based on Component Object Model, it is a little slower as compared to PHP.
- Non-compatibility: Unlike the PHP is compatible with both Windows & Linux platform, the Active Server Pages are compatible only with windows server.
- Demands knowledge of Visual Basic: The syntax of server page scripting is lot similar to that of VB, thus a little know-how makes it easier.
The next generation of ASP
Microsoft has provided a new version of Active Server Page support for the development web service applications in the form of ASP.NET and is the next generation of Micrsoft’s Active Server Page with an extension “.aspx”. By inserting the queries in the RDBMS in a webpage, this technology allows a website to build webpages dynamically. Unlike its predecessor, its use is not limited as server side scripting.
The next generation is also a member of .NET framework, thus it endorses a great tool for building dynamic and feature rich websites by the developers using wither C# or Visual Basic. The only reason the developers can make use of J#, C# or Visual Basic, is the next generation of Micrsoft’s Active Server technology is not limited to scripting and scripting languages. Visual Studio is the most potent development tool built by Microsoft as it helps programmers in making compelling applications. This exclusive type of server-side technology is built on CLR which can be efficiently used on a Windows server.
The big fishes of the market who are using ASP.NET technology are:
www.amazon.com
www.ebay.com
www.W3schools.com
www.Godaddy.com
The advancement of the first generation to second in the domain of Active Server Page added more functionality and security quotients to web development.
- As large applications necessitate great and lengthy coding as well. But with ASP.Net the amount of code required for building generous applications reduced drastically.
- The built-in windows authentication feature and per-application configuration makes it even more secure.
- Provides early binding, just-in time compilation of the source code.
- Visual Studio provides a rich toolbox & designer with drag-n-drop ctrls, easy-n-efficient deployment and many more.
- Language independence
To conclude, the very next generation of Active Server Page is an efficient programming framework for creating web technologies, web-based applications and dynamic-feature rich applications.