Starting with ASP - SQL Server Forums

Please start any new threads on our new site at https://forums.sqlteam.com. We've got lots of great SQL Server experts to answer whatever question you can come up with.

All Forums

Site Related Forums

The Yak Corral

Starting with ASP

Author

Topic

simondeutsch
Aged Yak Warrior

547 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-01 : 15:46:44

Hiya!
I am a VB6 developer (with a little bit of SQL knowledge), and I want to learn ASP. I understand the concept behind ASP, but can I have some pointers to these:
1. What product would I use for ASP development? E.g to write an app I'd use Visual Basic, what do I use for a site or app using ASP?
2. The VBScript vs. JavaScript issue: is any one better?
3. Some recommended reading, but remember that while I'm a real newbie at ASP, I am an experienced programmer, so I don't want a "Hello, World" book. I'd like a book with enough examples to teach me the syntactical elements, etc., but not things like how to put a button on a webform.

Thanks!

Sarah Berger MCSD

tkizer
Almighty SQL Goddess

38200 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-01 : 15:57:11

For books, I like the <insert programming language here> IN A NUTSHELL books (not sure if they have an ASP one for that series though). They assume that you already know how to program and therefore are not for a newbie.

Tara

Edited by - tduggan on 05/01/2003 16:21:10

MichaelP
Jedi Yak

2489 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-01 : 16:16:08

I've been doing ASP stuff for like 4 years now. I've started using ASP.net in the last few months. If you are planning to learn something new, I suggest going to ASP.net. It's MUCH easier

1. As far as ASP 3.0, You can write ASP in notepad if you like, but I suggest Visual Interdev.

2. The ASP pages (the server side code) should be in VBScript, any client side coding (like form validation etc) should be done in Javascript. VBScript on the client side will only work for Internet Explorer.

3. I like the ASP 3.0 book by Wrox. It's one of those 1000+ page books so it has a little of everything in there. For ASP.net get ASP.net Unleashed by Stephen Walther. It's my bible right now :)

I suggest http://www.4guysfromrolla.com for asp help as well. They have everything you need there methinks.

Michael

<Yoda>Use the Search page you must. Find the answer you will.</Yoda>

jasper_smith
SQL Server MVP & SQLTeam MVY

846 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-01 : 17:05:36

I'd second ASP.NET Unleashed - it's an amazing book (bloody weighs a ton too

) and also the idea that if you're starting fresh go for ASP.NET rather than plain ASP.

HTH
Jasper Smith

0x73656c6563742027546f6f206d7563682074696d65206f6e20796f75722068616e6473203f27

ValterBorges
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

1429 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-01 : 17:31:48

Get a book on VB.NET
Get a book on C#
Get a book on .NET Framework
Get a book on ADO.NET
Get a book on Javascript + DHTML
Get a book on IIS 5.0 +

I suggest Wrox.

You can use WebMatrix for free from
www.asp.net and all asp is is VB that is either interpreted or compiled and then runs on a Web Server like IIS.
The concept is CGI programming where you have in a nutshell the following.

A Request Object (Your Input)
A Response Object (Your Ouput)
A Server Object (Your State and Control)

This is also true for jsp and perl or any other cgi language.

All this you can learn just by reading a few articles.

You should already know VBS since you know VB.
Javascript is more widely used as a client side scripting language that is VBScript. Or should I call it JScript.

ValterBorges
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

1429 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-01 : 17:35:19

Jay is this your name in Chinese
I've tried the convert on it but I can't read chinese.

0x73656c6563742027546f6f206d7563682074696d65206f6e20796f75722068616e6473203f27

[unicode]
”²¾´¬�✠��⁯®�µµ¬_ºÆ⁥œ«µQ®�⁲¿®“³⁳✿
[/unicode]

Graz,
How do you post unicode?

Edited by - ValterBorges on 05/01/2003 17:36:52

Tim
Starting Member

392 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-01 : 20:33:48

Sarah

Starting to learn ASP to implement web apps is a bit like starting to learn DAO to implement data access.

The big problem with ASP is that you mix script with HTML and for anything non-trivial it is awful to maintain the code. Inside the code, it is just plain hard/tedious/a dog to maintain state information and a whole bunch of other problems.

ASP.NET addresses all those problems and more. I really suggest you get hold of it - everything is free so you can start low risk. After that I think VisualStudio .NET is a must just for productivity.

The book "ASP.net Unleashed" is a good intro and doesn't require you have VisualStudio .NET. It covers most of the stuff and is a good intro. But be warned, it shows some bad technique, like putting sql statements in the web forms and so on.

I'd say read it to get a grounding, but then think about other sources that specialise and go into more depth. eg: Scott Mitchell has a good book about the data grid alone. There is an awesome book on n-tier development called "expert one on one VB.NET business Objects" by Rocky Lhotka. (it's an update of similar books he did in VB5 and VB6 which you may have read).

www.asp.net has a good tutotiral section also.

Good Luck!

simondeutsch
Aged Yak Warrior

547 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-01 : 21:43:52

Thanks for your input, guys!
I definitely will be going for ASP.NET, no use learning an expiring technology. But I won't be doing VB.NET anytime soon, as I see from the VB community people are not so eager to switch. VB.NET breaks nearly all old apps, and it is usually not worth it to rewrite an app from VB 5/6 to .NET. So the VB community is holding off for a little longer. If anything, I think I'll do C++ instead.

I am not really planning to become a major ASP developer, I just want enough knowledge to be dangerous... (and to be able to put on my resume "functional knowledge of ASP.NET")

Sarah Berger MCSD

Merkin
Funky Drop Bear Fearing SQL Dude!

4970 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-01 : 21:52:22

If you want to do .NET but not VB.NET, go with C#. Lots of good code being shared and fun stuff in the C# community.

Damian

ValterBorges
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

1429 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-01 : 22:36:54

Unless your planning on writing graphic engines, real time systems, or any other performance oriented systems your much better of with the C#. I think eventually as they compilers get better and better at optimizing code the performance gap will narrow C++ uses to very applied and specific industries.

chadmat
The Chadinator

1974 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-01 : 23:39:07

Sarah,

I second Tim's comments aout going with ASP.Net. Also, Since you are just going to be learning, it doesn't really matter which language you go with. You shouldn't rule out VB.Net, if you are familiar with VB, you are likely to pick it up faster than anything else. It doesn't sound like you are learning this to maintain existing apps, so I wouldn't let your ideas about VB.Net keep you from learning it. It is much more powerful than VB 6, and once you get the hang of it, you'll love it.

I on the other hand, prefer C#. But once you know one, it isn't that difficult to pick up the other.

The one thing about what Michael said. Since you have never done classic ASP, you won't appreciate how NICE asp.net is

-Chad

http://www.clrsoft.com

Software built for the Common Language Runtime.

simondeutsch
Aged Yak Warrior

547 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-01 : 23:45:27

Interesting how C# seems to have picked up. When it was first released, I remember reading how everyone was making fun of it.

Sarah Berger MCSD

mohdowais
Sheikh of Yak Knowledge

1456 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-02 : 05:57:57

I agree with eveything that the others have suggested, and if you wanna get started with ASP, you might as well start with ASP.NET. There is one problem I have faced though...once you get started with VB.NET or C#, you start to look at everything through (true) "Object-Oriented" glasses. And also, these languages are much more powerful than VB6, you might find it really tough to go back to VB6 once you've been in .NET world. I dont know about the others, but I really can't seem to be able to do anything in VB6 now that I have worked with VB.NET and C#

graz
Chief SQLTeam Crack Dealer

4149 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-02 : 07:28:20

quote:

Graz,
How do you post unicode?

I have no idea. And I'd cast my vote for .NET and C#. Especially considering Yukon will allow you to integrate .NET code into extended stored procedures.

===============================================
Creating tomorrow's legacy systems today.
One crisis at a time.

jasper_smith
SQL Server MVP & SQLTeam MVY

846 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-02 : 12:45:59

quote:
I've tried the convert on it but I can't read chinese.

0x73656c6563742027546f6f206d7563682074696d65206f6e20796f75722068616e6473203f27

It's meant to be read like

declare @a varchar(100)
set @a = 0x73656c6563742027546f6f206d7563682074696d65206f6e20796f75722068616e6473203f27
exec(@a)

but also

select convert(varchar(100),
0x73656c6563742027546f6f206d7563682074696d65206f6e20796f75722068616e6473203f27)

BTW - it's not worth the effort

HTH
Jasper Smith

Edited by - jasper_smith on 05/02/2003 12:47:22

Subscribe to SQLTeam.com

SQLTeam.com Articles via RSS

SQLTeam.com Weblog via RSS

- Advertisement -

Resources