Best web-scripting language

I'm just wondering what everyone's thoughts on the best web based scripting (server side scripting) language is.

My personal opinion is that they all have their pro's and con's. I'll give you one thought on the subject though - I hate the ability to not declare variables. In ASP I always get problems when I make a variable by accident by spelling it wrong then forget to destroy it later and it causes the server to lag when it happens XXX number of times. Also I highly dislike not having different types of variables to use (the fact that they all start as objects then just hold different types of info). Argh!

Anyways, just wondering on the rest of the communities thoughs on this matter.

Im partial to PHP myself.

What are server side scripting languages? Like HTML except for servers? Thanks.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Kezil
What are server side scripting languages? Like HTML except for servers? Thanks.

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No, i wouldn't put it quite like that. HTML is just a mark-up language. It doesn't actually DO anything, it's just interpreted by browsers. JavaScript would be a better example. The thing with JavaScript is that is is very limited and very taxing on the client browser.

Server Side Scripting allows the web programmer great control over what happens on a web site. This site for instance is created with PHP, a sss language. It allows things to happen dynamically without the web programmer needing to do anything. It handles the forms when you press submit to reply to a post, it displays the thread when you click on a link, it updates who the last poster was, how many replies, how many views, etc.

I personally use ASP (due to the fact the my friend who is hosting my web sites runs win2k server) on my rollerblade website. I've got it to the point where if I want to update the site by adding a new video or picture, all I have to do is upload it. Now you could never do this with HTML or JavaScript.

Hope this helped answer your question. If you have any others just reply to this post or pm me.

Server side languages execute on the server (hence the name) and are completely parsed before being sent to the browser. Try viewing the source code for this page and it'll all be in HTML, because that is the only format browsers can understand (it also stops you from pinching JPs code!)

Client side scripting occurs on the client side, i.e. the web browser. Client side is much faster and can be updated say every second (hence the cheesy scrolling messages in text boxes) but has the disadvantages of letting anyone view the source code and only working on browsers that support it and have the option turned on.

My favourite language has got to be PHP because it's much faster than CGI, more portable than ASP and cheaper than ColdFusion. On top of that, it's open source and remarkably easy to use if. like me, you already know some C and Perl.

Thanks for your help, both of you. That information is exactly what I was looking for and very helpful.
(Note to self: learn PHP)

Lately I've been looking into JSP and Java Servlets (as Java is my language of choice). The main thing I like about it is that it is much easier to make a servlet than an activeX object (no restart, horray!). Very powerful and, let's face it, it's made for the web!

Oh yeah, never thought to mention cold fusion in the poll. probably cuz i don't know anyone who programs in it.

PHP and JSP are the best languages. Whether you use one or the other is probably primarily based on budget.

JSP is definately more mainstream and works well with db2 and other high-end databases. On the other hand, license fees can cost you an arm and a leg. Therefore, for small budgets or smaller projects, the equally capable PHP/MySQL free-combo is probably best.

Quote:

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Originally posted by force
JSP is definately more mainstream and works well with db2 and other high-end databases. On the other hand, license fees can cost you an arm and a leg. Therefore, for small budgets or smaller projects, the equally capable PHP/MySQL free-combo is probably best.

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I'm sorry, what are you talking about??? JSP is free and it works with MySQL. It's called JDBC. As long as you've set up a datasource it's no problem at all.

The license fees I referred to in my post was that of DB2, not JSP. I'm aware of JDBC, but I was just using the most likely database to be used.

The focus of my previous post was to point out usability of 2 typical scripting languages in mainstream enviroments. I was trying to make the point that PHP/MySQL performance do not match those of JSP/DB2. Moreover, neither do those of JSP/JDBC/MySQL or any other SQL databse for that matter.

$people = GetPeople($AntiOnlineForum);
foreach ($people as $person) {
Beat($Stronzo);
Maul($Force);
Compliment($RWA);
MakeWittyRemark();
}
:D :D :D BEHOLD THE POWER OF PHP.

Ok, gotcha Force. I do agree though about licensing fees being a pain in the ass. Most of the firms I have worked for use IIS and either Access or MS-SQL. Those fees definately take a big chop at profits.

Code:

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while( true ){
  try{
    wackUpSideTheHead( RWA );
  }catch( NotOnlineException e ){
    waitTillOnline();
    continue();
  }
}

---

:D I can do that too RWA :D

**nods
You are a worthy opponent. Hmm should start work on a mauling bot....

php rulez .. !! ;) :p :D

-= peace =-

Since it is obvious that we are talking about opinion rather than the merrits of each language, I will have to vote for ASP.


My personal opinion is that they all have their pro's and con's. I'll give you one thought on the subject though - I hate the ability to not declare variables. In ASP I always get problems when I make a variable by accident by spelling it wrong then forget to destroy it later and it causes the server to lag when it happens XXX number of times. Also I highly dislike not having different types of variables to use (the fact that they all start as objects then just hold different types of info). Argh!

^ This paragraph struck me as odd ^

Ever heard of "Option Explicit"? Using this line at the top of each ASP or VB for that matter will force you declair each variable before using it. If you misspell a variable name or do not "dim" it then you will get a compiler error "Undifined variable at line: X" whice is pretty damn easy to figure out where you messed up.

Now for the PHP vs. ASP death match. Being an avid programmer of both languages, I have come to notice some things about the two that really make a difference. Although both PHP and ASP can be run on *nix and MS platforms these days. I will put it in a nut shell.

ASP is a mature, flexable, and extreamly robust SSS language. And for developing on NT/IIS or NT/Apache configs. it cannot be outdone. It is however a tad on the slow side, but proper programming standards will help reduce this dramaticly.

PHP is a fun extreamly easy language, but it is not type safe to any stretch of the imagination. It is kind of flakey and incosistent across different platforms. It does not support the wide range of databases that ASP does, file objects, etc. But it is fast and for developing SSS on Linux/Unix platforms I would have to say that PHP is the one I would use. PHP also works very nicely on NT and you don't have to phuck with all of the permissions snafu's of *nix.

"g-day"

-Q


P.S. I just had to do in ASP since everybody else is fighting with PHP.


Option explicit

dim usrArray(3)
usrArray(0) = "force"
usrArray(1) = "Stronzo"
usrArray(2) = "RWA"

dim strAO
strAO = getForumName("AntiOnline")

dim cnt
dim usr
dim i

i=0
cnt = ubound(usrArray())

do while i < cnt
for each usr in strAO
if(usr=usrArray(i))then
kill usr
else: usr=usr
end if
next
i=i+1
loop

I haven't played with any of them yet but this site is PHP and I like all the options that it has and how it is setup. I haven't dealt with much other web languages than html.

Quote:

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Originally posted by NoNeckJoe
Ever heard of "Option Explicit"?

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Ya, but Option Explicit slows down your script signficantly therefore I only use it when I am developing the script then remove it when I am done. What I personally like is being able to do something such as:

int counter = 0; as opposed to
Dim intCounter
intCounter = 0

But that's just personal opinion.

BTW. Your program sure isn't very efficient. Let me fix if for you:

Option explicit

dim objAO
Set objAO = getForumName("AntiOnline")

for each usr in objAO
if usr.name = "force" Or usr.name = "NoNeckJoe" Or usr.name = "RWA" Then
kill usr
end if
next


Your big-O = 3n
My big-O = n plus less memory used. ;)

Ooops. accidental post.

Gotta go with php

I am unfairly biased towards java script since I currently am taking a java class, and I only know a little cgi.

Php and CGI

ASP is notorious for bombong out under any significant load.

Quote:

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Originally posted by UberC0der
Php and CGI

ASP is notorious for bombong out under any significant load.

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And CGI is notorious for it's security holes in badly written scripts.

It's a no-brainer really - PHP is the only serious, secure, stable choice. :D