PHP, ASP, or other?

[monroeski]

I'm thinking of starting up a webcomic, and want to know which language you guys would suggest. I will probably be working with mySQL. I saw an ad the other day for a job that would require some database management skills that I might apply for, since I'm sick of working my way through college as front desk for a hotel. So basically, what language is best for stuff like manipulating databases? I have some experience with PHP already, but not really that much at all.

[devalt]

You will get answers saying that one is better than the other. Honestly it really doesn't matter. If you are working mainly on a Microsoft platform, go ASP. If you may get involved with Linux platforms, you might want to go PHP. Of course, you can run PHP on Microsoft, and ASP on Linux, so once again it really doesn't matter.

Just so you know, if you spend a lot of time doing web dev you will pick up both eventually.

[Grizzly]

It really doesn't matter as far as I'm concerned. Each of the major web-languages have their own, fairly simple way to work with databases. For developers just starting out, I personally think PHP is a great way to go because there is an abundance of free scripts, examples, and tutorials available. Plus, PHP can do just about anything you need.

Concerning "database maintenance" skills, MySQL is a good starting point, but the DBMS's most commonly used in business apps are probably MSSQL, Oracle, and PostgreSQL. I personally find MySQL to be loads of fun, and it's nice because it's so closely integrated with PHP. But when you get into the heavier lifting later on you'll probably develop a taste for the more enterprise-level solutions.

Good luck with it.

[gameboy1234]

I run an IIS webserver on Windows 2000 Pro, and I use ASP, Python, and Perl.

Basically, I think the ASP is a litlle on the "toy language" side. There are NO STRUTURES in ASP, the TYPE key word removed from VB for ASP. You get no hashes or associative arrays either. The only aggregate data structure is the simple integer-indexed array. That sucks for doing any real work in a language.

Python I haven't used much, I installed it mostly on a lark.

Perl is the heavy lifter of the internet. Having used both Perl and ASP on the same project, I personally much prefer Perl. Perl suffers from the ability to write unmaintainable code. It's a very free form language. But you can also use subroutines for much more structured code, it's just programmer discipline. And you get an amazing number of versitle data types, plus even more amazing library support. (Did you know there's a POSIX library for Perl? You can call fork from Perl, and even create groups to make a daemon. Amazing.)

PHP I haven't used. I hear very good things about it, but I don't know how wide spread it's adoption is.

In the real world, you'll use what your employer wants. ASP is popular, and you should learn it. But I know plenty of "Perl only" shops, you should learn that as well eventually.

Good luck.