New to Web Scripting, but not programming.

Lei Ying Lo · 20 Aug 2009 at 11:15

Hi guys,

I was wanting opinions on what might be best/most useful for me to learn. I did Computer Science at uni but I didn't take any modules in Databases/Web scripting (apart from simple ones in my 1st year), I mostly done C/C++, Java, Parallel Computing. Because of this I feel like I'm 'missing' quite a bit as I've seen a lot of jobs asking for things like C#, ASP, PHP, SQL etc.

Whilst I have a little free time on my hands I've started learning C#. But was wondering what scripting language would be best - would ASP.net go well with a knowledge of C#? Am I right in thinking SQL can be used with ASP? Or should I focus on PHP and SQL?

Which is currently the most used out of ASP and PHP, which do you think will do better in the future?

Thanks for any advice, or tips!

Lei

GravyMonster · 20 Aug 2009 at 11:20

ASP (in it's classic form) is effectively a dead technology.

With the knowledge you've mentioned, C# is perfect for you, and you can create ASP.Net applications in C# using Visual Studio.

SQL is used with ASP.Net through ADO.Net, although you can also use Linq to SQL which creates classes for you based on your database schema so you can write SQL-like code to query your data. I'd at least learn the basics of SQL (SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT, DELETE and JOINS) though.

radderfire · 21 Aug 2009 at 01:26

If you want to work for large corporates then ASP.net is useful, as they still run on Microsoft technologies.

If you want to do contracting from home, develop sites yourself, or work for as a contracting web developer for small web dev houses, then PHP. I much prefer PHP myself, more help online and much easier to develop with I find.

http://www.webref.eu/php-tutorials.php

http://www.webref.eu/php-scripts.php

Rgds

RobH · 21 Aug 2009 at 02:22

If you're going to go with ASP.NET then you need to start with C# as it's the most common language used with it. PHP is a good starting place though becuase you can get a feel of how client-server interactions work across the internet without first having to learn a lot of things.