My Old Blog: Classic ASP vs PHP

June 9th, 2013 | Comments | Share

Tags : blogger classic asp php programming

Trying to consolidate all my blogging in one central location can be hard. I managed to find some of my old blog posts on Blogger. Should I continue to use Blogger? No I don't think I'll be posting there unless I'm out of the office and wish to post on the road.

Here is a copy of my 2nd post on Blogger, posted on 9th December 2009!

Second Blog!

Almost a year later and here I am doing my second blog post on Blogger. Yes, yes I did have an idea but never got round to implementing it. BUT I did have a few other ideas, some never touched, some half finished, actually most not finished.

Don't you find this as well. You have some great ideas but never get to do them or only half finish them. This is that terrible thing call procrastination.

My new idea, called... actually kept under wraps until I have something online, is brewing in my mind. Every night toiling over the idea, seeing how it will work and how it could expand. Remember when Twitter came out... we thought what a stupid idea, but once you sit down and think about it, there are so many things it can do and integrate.

Before I can get going with the project I need to first sort out what language I am going to write it in. Here is some thoughts I had to wrestle with yesterday...

"It's a very sad day in my life. I have no option but to change. Change to a new programming language... Having been programming since computers were available, first in Basic under DOS, not forgetting COBAL and some assembler were learnt as school. I'm luck to have even used punch cards and slide rulers!

When I beta-tested websites, Microsoft soon released ASP (Classic ASP) and I have been using Classic ASP ever since. I could not under stand the Microsoft mentality of adding hundreds of extra lines of code when they moved to ASP.NET. My philosophy has always been to keep it simple and make it work better. I was fustrated by all the hundreds of pages of .net error pages that a person kept seeing on the Internet for websites running .net applications. If you can not program it by hand, why throw hundereds of lines of code at it to make it work.

I've loved Classic ASP. There was a lot you could do and it was simple to maintain and edit. Anyone could take any of my coding and easily see what is happening with it. Neat and tidy.

The problem came when I needed code to do OAUTH authentication. Many apps, especial;ly the social media programs, all have API's and to access them you need to authenticate yourself. I searched and searched for something. I wrote my own code, but I just cvoulsd no get anything to work. There are libraries for OAUTH authentication in all languages, but nothing in Classic ASP.

I started a Google Code page and a Google Group. No one has joined it. I have come across quite a few posts for anything in Classic ASP, but most are just unanswered. I then realised that the support base for Classic ASP is much less than what I thought. I had to rethink my choice of programming language and do it fast.

What does one choose? I suppos you bneed to see what is available and what is used. I always said go with the flow. Years ago I kept saying to people, stick to Windows. Most people use it and it is easy and cheap to get support. Some people decided to use linux in their work environments but that soon changed back to Windows. If I look at what is abvasilable today, it looks like PHP is the language of choice. Yes there is Ruby on Rails and many others but PHO has a huge base, strong support and is even supported by Microsoft today. Yea, where is the support for all your Classic ASP programmers - dumped on the side of the road!

PHP isn't going to be a problem for me. I have used it in the past and even leactured in PHP programming a few years ago. it is just the thought of having to start collecting all the libraries, getting to know all the tricks of the trade and many other stuff.

It is a very sad day in my life - let me get back to the downloads. It is also a great day in my life as my dad is getting married again, but that is another story!"

Posted by Andre Bruton at 4:42 PM

 

Footnote

Almost four years later and I can't think of going back to Classic ASP. The other day I had to make some modifications to some old code and ended up getting someone in India to do it for $5.00! I'm glad I took the plung and changed to PHP.

Links

http://www.prweb.com/releases/dmxready/asp/prweb3955004.htm