Pick a card.....any card.

[macdan]

OK everybody, excuse the new bloke asking a vague question but it's Friday and it's been a long week.

I really want to learn a server-side language to make my sites more interactive, database driven, searchable etc. Problem is I'm not really a techie. Learnt a bit of ASP and was able to create a basic app which allowed a database to be updated, displayed, searched etc so I thought...wow this is good - I'm incompetant and can still do this!

BUT..... everyone slags off ASP because it's Microsoft and PHP sounds interesting and may help be cooler and get me more friends but then there's Coldfusion which I'm attracted to because I use Homesite and then one of the developers I work with is going on and on and on and on about JSP.....(he's completely off his rocker by the way)

It's Friday, it would make my Monday if I came in to work and had a clear vision.

[aspen]

http://www.webmasterbase.com/article.php?aid=295

Honestly its not hard to learn all of em. I have a working knowledge of PHP/CF/ASP ASP probably least of all - because I dont like it. But once you learn one the rest are really easy. PHP is easy if you have any kind of programming background. CF is just easy.

But if you need to pick one decide on your career focus. You wont get a job for a big company as a PHP coder.

also see this thread

http://www.sitepointforums.com/showt...threadid=17134

[goober]

I sense that this could turn into a language war soon...

*runs for cover*

I would suggest staying with ASP, as big Corporations look for ASP developers nowadays (PHP hasn't caught on at all in the corporate world. Mostly just small web sites).

PHP would be handy to learn, but I'd stick with ASP. ColdFusion also looks very nice on a resume.

Hope this helped.

[BC]

... Or why not cover all bases and learn all 3? (like I'm doing)

[Nicky]

Because you are a glutton for punishment

[BC]

Originally posted by Nicky
Because you are a glutton for punishment

[Kyuss]

Originally posted by goober
I sense that this could turn into a language war soon...

*runs for cover*

I would suggest staying with ASP, as big Corporations look for ASP developers nowadays (PHP hasn't caught on at all in the corporate world. Mostly just small web sites).

PHP would be handy to learn, but I'd stick with ASP. ColdFusion also looks very nice on a resume.

doesnt it bite bad

of all my (this is a personal preference purely ) i enjoy coding in php! i find it is just more like programming should be (eargh, should i really be posting this). ie, its more like c.

though, of late i have been enjoying jsp...

dont i know you macdan?, or should i say dan mac

heh!

[TWTCommish]

If the only reason for learning this would be for personal projects and some freelancing here and there, PHP may be the way to go - it's much easier if you ask me.

But yes, if this is designed to be a career move as well, ASP is the way to go.

[djrs]

My suggestion would be PHP it is the future and it's gettng more powerful with every version they put out.

[goober]

Originally posted by djrs
My suggestion would be PHP it is the future and it's gettng more powerful with every version they put out.

This has been mentioned, I believe..but, as for now, ASP is what companies are hiring for, and I believe that PHP will stay small-time (at least for now -- perhaps a year or so).

[macdan]

Firstly thanks for all your responses and advice, Sitepoint is indeed an excellent forum (cheers for the recommendation Kyuss).

It's interesting to see ASP being recommended so highly in terms of career progression and I'm pretty pleased as that's the one that I have a (very shallow) grasp of. Coldfusion didn't seem to be mentioned much.

Would I be correct in saying that ASP is a good one to start off with? - bearing in mind that I don't have a programming background. Coldfusion looks easier to deal with because of a more recognisable tag based style but, and I'm guessing here, I reckon I'm not going to learn as much by learning it - if that makes any sense!

Any more opinions are greatly valued.

[Fluffykins]

I don't have a programming background and started with ASP. I've got a basic understanding of it but haven't really gone through anything advanced yet.

IMO VBScript is easy to learn for the non-programmer because it's very 'top level' and a lot like structured english. Ie even a non-programmer can work out what's going on by looking at some code.

Once you get the hang of coding in one language, learning to code in another becomes a lot easier. I'd recommend some general programming texts if you're an absolute beginner, just so you get to grips with IF, THEN, ELSE statements and the idea of functions etc in a general context before looking at them in any one specific language.

Ady

[macdan]

Thanks Ady.

In terms of texts, I've been using Beginning Active Server 3.0 Pages by Wrox which I reckon is really good - is this the sort of thing you mean or can you recommend any others?

[TWTCommish]

macdan: That's probably one of the best beginning ASP books you're going to find anywhere - I love that book, stick with it and in a couple weeks you should have a good handle on it all.

And yes, VBScript's syntax is like rough english - think of SQL queries or DOS commands: a little bit like that. However, it might be harder in the long run, seeing as how lots of languages are typed, are heavily object-oriented, use semi-colons to terminate statements and curly braces to break up code into blocks.

So yes, ASP will be easier to learn for now, but later on you'll still have to drill some of those common syntax laws into your hard, and that'll be a bit tough if you get comfortable with ASP.