What is ASP?
ASP – or Active Server Pages to give it its full name, is Microsoft’s first server-side script engine, which allows users to add interactive functions to their web pages. These pages take input from a visitor, which then determines the outcome of how the resulting page is displayed. An example of this is a visitor entering their user name and password to log into a ‘members-only’ section of a website. ASP is also sometimes referred to as ‘Classic ASP’ or ‘ASP Classic’.
ASP has undergone several revisions since its introduction in 1996, including the introduction of ASP+ (later to be known as ASP.NET) in 2002. In the first few versions, scripts were required to be put inside HTML files, but the 2002 version brought in support for languages such as Virtual Basic as well.
In order for a website owner to run ASP scripts they need to install an ASP server. The most common ASP servers are Microsoft Personal Web Server and Microsoft Internet Information Services. It is also possible to use a third-party implementation to run ASP scripts of a Linux/Unix-based server – with examples of these being Instant ASP and Chili ASP.
It is most common to use VBScript to write scripts for ASB content, though other languages can also be used, such as Microsoft Jscript, and Perl Script - a third-party language. Many websites contain information and collections of available scripts, and these are often available to the user at no cost. Examples of such websites are www.scripts.com and www.hotscripts.com. A simple search via your favorite search engine should bring up many thousands more websites like these. For those with computer programming experience, writing your own scripts is a fairly straightforward process. If you are interested in doing this but do not have the relevant experience, it is even possible to find tutorials and information on how to go about doing this.
As ASP is a Microsoft product, you will achieve optimal results if you use it in conjunction with a Microsoft operating system, as you are running it in the environment it was created for. That is not to say that you cannot use a different operating system, but your results will not be as good. As a result of this, when looking for a web hosting company, you would be best advised to look for one which utilizes a Microsoft-based server. This could have implications on other areas of your website – if you operate a database, for example. Check the information carefully, and if in doubt contact your web hosting company to check if they provide full ASP support.