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Is It Worth Learning .net?
This is a discussion on Is It Worth Learning .net?, within the ASP/.NET section. This forum and the thread "Is It Worth Learning .net?" are both part of the Programming Your Website category.
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| Is It Worth Learning .net?, what is the advantage compare to PHP? |
 Mar 14 2008, 03:46 AM
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#1
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 ASP Advisor  Group: Advisors Posts: 673 Joined: 13-February 08 From: Borneo Member No.: 8  |
If you have to choose, which one you will select? .NET or PHP?
I am talking about comitement here  I have a good background in Classic ASP 3.0 and I have decided to put my effort to master PHP instead of .NET Everyone is talking about PHP so I will give a try to see how PHP will change my life? Should I learn .NET as well? Or just stick to PHP? Cheers... -------------------- Monieweb.com - So much to learn, so little time!
QUOTE The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up in the morning, and does not stop until you get into the office! |
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Mar 14 2008, 08:11 AM
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#2
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 Rapid Squeezer Group: Members Posts: 156 Joined: 15-February 08 From: US of A Member No.: 150 |
.Net is a TERRIBLE language to use for public websites. It should never be used for a public website. If your building a public site you should use PHP, ASP, or JSP. JSP only on those applications that you have to have a Java Program running on a client side.
When to use .Net? .Net is great for closed network environments. You can produce feature rich applications quickly, although your file sizes will be nearly 10 - 30 x's the size of a php file. Also, .Net is designed for Internet Explorer, so Firefox users, Safari, and Opera users get the shaft. One last negative thing about .Net is that its developed for individual Service Packs. Guess what? If your viewer has a newer version of .Net then you used it won't work! .Net is not backwards compatible... So never use .Net for a website that you don't control the settings on your user's PC. -------------------- Currently Available for work: - XTHML, CSS, Flash, Actionscript, PHP, ASP, Ajax -
interested in movies? Read some of my reviews on my blog |
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Mar 14 2008, 08:43 AM
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#3
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 Master of the Universe Group: Mentor Posts: 1,094 Joined: 15-February 08 From: London, England Member No.: 141 |
I disagree with Justin completely.
ASP.net has a couple of disadvantages when compared to php. 1) It can only run on Microsoft servers. 2) PHP has better support for MySQL, SQLite etc 3) PHP community is far larger meaning that there are more code snippets and help about. This being said ASP.net is a great language. It is often used on large commercial websites and has excellent scalability. Many many job descriptions specify either asp, asp.net or just .net. ASP.net technically ticks all 3 of these boxes. ASP.net is designed to serve pages, much like PHP. Unlike what Justin has said there is no difference between the browsers unless you make the mistakes in the outputted html etc. Furthermore ASP.net, unless I am mistaken has nothing to do with service packs. It has different versions much like php 4/5. The .net version will have some effect with C#.net and application languages. But as ASP.net is configured to work on a single server this is not really an issue. This is a good article on the two languages. http://www.bizfive.com/articles/web-design...hp-and-asp.net/ My personal opinion is this. It is better to be an expert in one language as opposed to being OK in two. There are plenty of php jobs, there are plenty of ASP.net jobs. It may be good to become familiar with the syntax in case it ever comes up but there isn't much point in becoming an expert in two languages which cannot be used side by side. -------------------- |
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Mar 14 2008, 03:33 PM
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#4
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Rapid Squeezer Group: Members Posts: 156 Joined: 15-February 08 From: US of A Member No.: 150 |
ASP.net Does not qualify you for ASP programming. I've known several people who were not hired for the fact that they didn't know ASP and companies rejected them. Also, ASP is a completely different monster and if you don't know ASP then your really going to need help on ASP.Net unless you program in something other than VBScript.
ASP is focused at replacing Java, that was its original intent. Yes, like flash, you can make a portfolio site out of ASP.Net. But just like flash it's something to frown upon. If your talking about making a very complicated CMS web-application that a client will never see then ASP.Net is great for that. But if your trying to give your user a Web Application via the .Net program you will catch a lot of errors. ASP.net is dependant on the version of .Net you have installed. I said Service pack, but meant the .Net Version. I have seen this be a problem on 3 local sites just recently as I have a competitor in the midst... Unfortunately for him he is having to refund all of his clients and rebuild them sites in ASP because his .Net sites are not compatible with more than 80% of the viewers. And he can't design worth a flip... -------------------- Currently Available for work: - XTHML, CSS, Flash, Actionscript, PHP, ASP, Ajax -
interested in movies? Read some of my reviews on my blog |
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Mar 15 2008, 09:51 PM
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#5
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 Fresh Squeezed Group: Members Posts: 27 Joined: 15-February 08 From: Ottawa, Canada Member No.: 154 |
QUOTE (Jason @ Mar 14 2008, 09:43 AM)  1) It can only run on Microsoft servers. Not exactly, check out Mono. QUOTE (Jason @ Mar 14 2008, 09:43 AM) 2) PHP has better support for MySQL, SQLite etc Not sure what you mean by this. MySQL (now owned by Sun) has some great tools for .Net. MySQL .Net Tools QUOTE (Jason @ Mar 14 2008, 09:43 AM) 3) PHP community is far larger meaning that there are more code snippets and help about. The PHP Community is older (better established) for sure, but I've never had problems finding help and code snippets. QUOTE (JustinStudios @ Mar 14 2008, 04:33 PM) ASP.net Does not qualify you for ASP programming. I've known several people who were not hired for the fact that they didn't know ASP and companies rejected them. Also, ASP is a completely different monster and if you don't know ASP then your really going to need help on ASP.Net unless you program in something other than VBScript. ASP and ASP.Net are definitely different beasts. I've never written a line of ASP in my life but I do just fine in ASP.Net (my day job is as a senior .Net developer, I write both .Net and PHP in my free time). QUOTE (JustinStudios @ Mar 14 2008, 04:33 PM) ASP is focused at replacing Java, that was its original intent. Yes, like flash, you can make a portfolio site out of ASP.Net. But just like flash it's something to frown upon. .Net was intended to compete with Java, it's true. Some would say it's succeeded in that respect. It's frowned upon by those who don't work with Microsoft technologies because of their (usually) irrational hatred of all things Microsoft. QUOTE (JustinStudios @ Mar 14 2008, 04:33 PM) If your talking about making a very complicated CMS web-application that a client will never see then ASP.Net is great for that. But if your trying to give your user a Web Application via the .Net program you will catch a lot of errors. I could provide you with examples of large organizations that have ASP.Net web applications successfully serving millions of hits per day. QUOTE (JustinStudios @ Mar 14 2008, 04:33 PM) ASP.net is dependant on the version of .Net you have installed. I said Service pack, but meant the .Net Version. I have seen this be a problem on 3 local sites just recently as I have a competitor in the midst... Unfortunately for him he is having to refund all of his clients and rebuild them sites in ASP because his .Net sites are not compatible with more than 80% of the viewers. And he can't design worth a flip... ASP.Net is dependant on the version of .Net you have installed... on the server. By the time an response for an ASP.Net application leaves the server it contains nothing more than HTML and JavaScript. If you write a desktop application in .Net, then yes, your clients will need the appropriate version of .Net installed on their computer. The same is not true for ASP.Net. By the way, JSP is the same, it does not require Java on the client (only Java servlets require Java on the client). Earlier versions of the .Net framework prodcued less than ideal HTML, but the situation has greatly improved since then. |
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Mar 18 2008, 04:50 AM
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#6
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ASP Advisor Group: Advisors Posts: 673 Joined: 13-February 08 From: Borneo Member No.: 8 |
Wow I should print this page and read it all over again!
I'll be back with my comment soon after I finish reading all the reply Cheers... -------------------- Monieweb.com - So much to learn, so little time!
QUOTE The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up in the morning, and does not stop until you get into the office! |
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Mar 18 2008, 10:37 AM
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#7
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Rapid Squeezer Group: Members Posts: 156 Joined: 15-February 08 From: US of A Member No.: 150 |
QUOTE ASP.NET is the latest version of Microsoft's Active Server Pages technology (ASP). What You Should Already Know Before you continue you should have a basic understanding of the following: * WWW, HTML, XML and the basics of building Web pages * Scripting languages like JavaScript or VBScript * The basics of server side scripting like ASP or PHP If you want to study these subjects first, find the tutorials on our Home Page What is Classic ASP? Microsoft's previous server side scripting technology ASP (Active Server Pages) is now often called classic ASP. ASP 3.0 was the last version of the classic ASP. To learn more about classic ASP, you can study our ASP tutorial. ASP.NET is Not ASP ASP.NET is the next generation ASP, but it's not an upgraded version of ASP. ASP.NET is an entirely new technology for server-side scripting. It was written from the ground up and is not backward compatible with classic ASP. You can read more about the differences between ASP and ASP.NET in the next chapter of this tutorial. ASP.NET is the major part of the Microsoft's .NET Framework. What is ASP.NET? ASP.NET is a server side scripting technology that enables scripts (embedded in web pages) to be executed by an Internet server. * ASP.NET is a Microsoft Technology * ASP stands for Active Server Pages * ASP.NET is a program that runs inside IIS * IIS (Internet Information Services) is Microsoft's Internet server * IIS comes as a free component with Windows servers * IIS is also a part of Windows 2000 and XP Professional What is an ASP.NET File? * An ASP.NET file is just the same as an HTML file * An ASP.NET file can contain HTML, XML, and scripts * Scripts in an ASP.NET file are executed on the server * An ASP.NET file has the file extension ".aspx" How Does ASP.NET Work? * When a browser requests an HTML file, the server returns the file * When a browser requests an ASP.NET file, IIS passes the request to the ASP.NET engine on the server * The ASP.NET engine reads the file, line by line, and executes the scripts in the file * Finally, the ASP.NET file is returned to the browser as plain HTML What is ASP+? ASP+ is the same as ASP.NET. ASP+ is just an early name used by Microsoft when they developed ASP.NET. The Microsoft .NET Framework The .NET Framework is the infrastructure for the Microsoft .NET platform. The .NET Framework is an environment for building, deploying, and running Web applications and Web Services. Microsoft's first server technology ASP (Active Server Pages), was a powerful and flexible "programming language". But it was too code oriented. It was not an application framework and not an enterprise development tool. The Microsoft .NET Framework was developed to solve this problem. .NET Frameworks keywords: * Easier and quicker programming * Reduced amount of code * Declarative programming model * Richer server control hierarchy with events * Larger class library * Better support for development tools The .NET Framework consists of 3 main parts: Programming languages: * C# (Pronounced C sharp) * Visual Basic (VB .NET) * J# (Pronounced J sharp) Server technologies and client technologies: * ASP .NET (Active Server Pages) * Windows Forms (Windows desktop solutions) * Compact Framework (PDA / Mobile solutions) Development environments: * Visual Studio .NET (VS .NET) * Visual Web Developer This tutorial is about ASP.NET. ASP.NET 2.0 ASP.NET 2.0 improves upon ASP.NET by adding support for several new features. You can read more about the differences between ASP.NET 2.0 and ASP.NET in the next chapter of this tutorial. ASP.NET 3.0 ASP.NET 3.0 is not a new version of ASP.NET. It's just the name for a new ASP.NET 2.0 framework library with support for Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation; and Windows CardSpace. provided by w3schools This post has been edited by JustinStudios: Mar 18 2008, 10:38 AM -------------------- Currently Available for work: - XTHML, CSS, Flash, Actionscript, PHP, ASP, Ajax -
interested in movies? Read some of my reviews on my blog |
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Mar 18 2008, 10:49 AM
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#8
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ASP Advisor Group: Advisors Posts: 673 Joined: 13-February 08 From: Borneo Member No.: 8 |
Yet the info keeps on pouring...
I have to say that I'll stick to ASP and PHP with MySQL
-------------------- Monieweb.com - So much to learn, so little time!
QUOTE The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up in the morning, and does not stop until you get into the office! |
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Mar 18 2008, 11:23 AM
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#9
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Rapid Squeezer Group: Members Posts: 156 Joined: 15-February 08 From: US of A Member No.: 150 |
I absolutely hate ASP.Net because I hate using it. I find it painful in so many respects... but then again what can you expect from Microsoft? I prefer ASP regular over .Net still and I don't see that changing however I prefer PHP over ASP. I do however have customers that want Microsoft servers because "They've never heard of Linux" and Microsoft's PHP support is too limited.
I am forced to use .Net for client side scripting and when I need a web app to go with it I just make it in .Net due to the fact I have it open anyhow. BTW if the clients version of .Net doesn't have anything to do with loading the components (client side mind you not server side) why do .Net websites not load at all on my machine that doesn't have it installed? -------------------- Currently Available for work: - XTHML, CSS, Flash, Actionscript, PHP, ASP, Ajax -
interested in movies? Read some of my reviews on my blog |
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Mar 18 2008, 12:56 PM
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#10
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Master of the Universe Group: Mentor Posts: 1,094 Joined: 15-February 08 From: London, England Member No.: 141 |
QUOTE (JustinStudios @ Mar 18 2008, 04:23 PM) BTW if the clients version of .Net doesn't have anything to do with loading the components (client side mind you not server side) why do .Net websites not load at all on my machine that doesn't have it installed? I run ubuntu, the .net framework doesn't even exist on my system and asp.net pages serve fine. Its the same for me mac. -------------------- |
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Mar 19 2008, 12:41 PM
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#11
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Rapid Squeezer Group: Members Posts: 235 Joined: 15-February 08 From: Finland Member No.: 139 |
I was previously a PHP/MySQL programmer. Still use that duo for most of my freetime projects but I've done .NET/MSSQL for a living now about 3 years. I prefer ASP.NET over PHP any day. I don't think there's anything wrong with PHP/MySQL, I just prefer ASP.NET. I can't really say why I prefer it and like it so much. The tools which I (and most, I guess. You know what they are) use are great compared to what I've used with PHP/MySQL. The whole development process is much more fluid. I know I could achieve the same with PHP at least to some degree so my liking is just a matter of personal opinion.
What comes to the actual question that should you learn it. Depends what you are planning to do. If you are thinking about professional career as a programmer, I would suggest learning .NET. here in Finland .NET developers are highly wanted and I think all the big players use .NET almost without exceptions. PHP/MySQL is mainly used in smaller web firms. I can't see why you couldn't learn both. Take one as the primary but learn the other too a bit. May give you a huge advantage some day if for some reason you need to switch back or the job requires some knowledge of the other (old projects, 3rd party components, etc...) -------------------- anttisimonen.com - .NET developer
anttis.wordpress.com - Blog |
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Mar 19 2008, 12:55 PM
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#12
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ASP Advisor Group: Advisors Posts: 673 Joined: 13-February 08 From: Borneo Member No.: 8 |
Good point there Telos! You just open's up my mind
I'll try to learn .NET while I am currently learning PHP! Well, maybe after I master PHP, then I will learn .NET! Thanks mate... -------------------- Monieweb.com - So much to learn, so little time!
QUOTE The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up in the morning, and does not stop until you get into the office! |
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Mar 19 2008, 01:30 PM
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#13
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Rapid Squeezer Group: Members Posts: 156 Joined: 15-February 08 From: US of A Member No.: 150 |
Don't try to learn .Net while learning PHP, you'll burn out and won't learn either. learn 1 then learn the other.
-------------------- Currently Available for work: - XTHML, CSS, Flash, Actionscript, PHP, ASP, Ajax -
interested in movies? Read some of my reviews on my blog |
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Mar 19 2008, 01:33 PM
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#14
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ASP Advisor Group: Advisors Posts: 673 Joined: 13-February 08 From: Borneo Member No.: 8 |
It's like learning Japanese and French at the same time
-------------------- Monieweb.com - So much to learn, so little time!
QUOTE The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up in the morning, and does not stop until you get into the office! |
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Mar 19 2008, 02:08 PM
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#15
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Master of the Universe Group: Mentor Posts: 1,094 Joined: 15-February 08 From: London, England Member No.: 141 |
QUOTE (JustinStudios @ Mar 19 2008, 06:30 PM) Don't try to learn .Net while learning PHP, you'll burn out and won't learn either. learn 1 then learn the other. I was going to say the same thing. Focus on one, many of the skills you learn in one language will be transferable to another. While functions may difference, variables, loops, ifs, switches, functions and classes are all very similar. Alternatively learn php to standard where you can code without a text book. Then do the same with asp.net. See which you prefer and focus on it. I personally will be picking up some asp.net this year. I have a few things on my list before that. Finish learning code ignitor. Learn advanced javascript + ajax Pick up a bit of asp.net -------------------- |
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Mar 19 2008, 02:17 PM
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#16
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Rapid Squeezer Group: Members Posts: 156 Joined: 15-February 08 From: US of A Member No.: 150 |
ASP.Net has it's own "javascript" type language called VBScript... BUT.... With .net Version 2005 it became a lot more Javascript friendly for web programming. Not sure why they made this change but they seem to be trying to push Javascript (for Ajax reasons) more now than ever.
I don't think people who program in .Net are bad people.. I just wish I had the patience and understanding to sit there and use the program. For me it's a TON easier to just type include("newForum.php") then to create a whole new forum via asp.Net . But that is because I have a huge library of php that I have made over the years. -------------------- Currently Available for work: - XTHML, CSS, Flash, Actionscript, PHP, ASP, Ajax -
interested in movies? Read some of my reviews on my blog |