Which is best to use..... I'm making a database driven site similar to http://www.bigbytes.co.uk and hostinvestigator.

PHP is probably you best bet for several reasons. First of all PHP is platform independant, which means you could switch from NT to UNIX and vise versa easily.
PHP 4 is also generally accepted to be somewhat faster then ASP, especially when running Apache web server.
In addition to all that PHP is very simular to Perl and C, which makes it much easier to learn and understand then ASP (at least that what I think :) )

I am not totally fair here, but in my opiion, you should go with PHP because:

- PHP is faster, it supports more modules
- PHP is developped faster
- PHP uses less system ressources
- PHP is FREE.

Now, if you programmed a lot in Visual Basic, you will want to use ASP because the languages are similar. If you programmed in C, C++ or Perl, PHP is easier to learn.

Overall, I found that PHP was pretty easy to learn. I started using itg 1 year ago and I am not developping a control panel & system admin tools all the time.

PHP+MySQL backend can make a product that can satisfy all but the highest-high-end-high-cost projects. It is stable, efficient, fast.

(yah I like PHP)

:)

I have to agree. I was a hardcore Perl lover, until php came along. Php is an extremely elegant language. Its easy, and really fast! :)

chicken must learn it... good project for him when he is bored to death.

i do know some php ...... so i guess i should stick to what i know lol.

PHP!!

But with Chillisoft ASP you can now have both on a Linux server.

I like to have the best of both worlds, since I know ASP reasonably well and PHP's coming along at a pretty fast rate.

I will say this much in terms of performance benchmarking : in my own testing at work, PHP4/MySQL is about 3 times faster doing exactly the same task as what ASP/Access might do. It's about 1.5 times faster if you use PHP4/MySQL as opposed to SQL Server.

(technically SQL server is faster than MySQL, but ASP does use quite a bit of overhead. It's a bit better on Win2K machines, but in terms of speed I'd still stick with PHP4 - which is what it was built for in the first place).

Originally posted by tabernack
But with Chillisoft ASP you can now have both on a Linux server.

I looked into getting it on my server- $800 (noooope). I'm sure you can get it for less, but not less enough.

Originally posted by Chicken
I looked into getting it on my server- $800 (noooope). I'm sure you can get it for less, but not less enough. [/B]

$800 can be considered when you are a virtual web host... it takes more time to consider it when it is your own web site on your own server though.

In fact, you have no choice... so far I only know Chilisoft ASP to do vb ASP in linux. Other projects ports perl to ASP (integrate perl in a web page like asp)...

That's not really good though.

Get PHP, it will overcome ASP (unless you stay on a windows box or have a huge wallet)

Yep, that is what I figured and php is now on the server, sooooo (no ASP).

I have a complex shopping cart written in ASP.
Is there any easy way to convert the ASP pages to PHP?

I think there is a ASP to PHP convertor.

.... which can be a bit unreliable at times.

Search for asp2php at http://www.hotscripts.com and you'll find it.

Originally posted by Chicken
Originally posted by tabernack
But with Chillisoft ASP you can now have both on a Linux server.

I looked into getting it on my server- $800 (noooope). I'm sure you can get it for less, but not less enough.


Ahhh Chicken,

but that's where you're wrong. I get it for free at DI!! :D And they are coming out with an anouncement soon for offering Miva engine to their clients (don't know all the details yet, but it should be similar to the ChilliSoft deal. Just pay for the installation - Hopefully!).

Well, yep that's different! And aren't I correct that although it is "free", there is a $80-$100 set up fee? Or is it now actually free (my definition of free: no money)

True. But since they charge $95/hour for support and that is what the install fee is for ChilliSoft, I am actually getting the software for free but paying a standard install fee that I would pay if I had them install any software.