What is ASP?
By: Aaron B. Copyright AaronOutpost.com

Active Server Pages

WHAT IS ASP? Active Server Pages (ASP) allows you to use VB coding to create interactive pages that can perform many tasks as though a program running off webserver.

WHAT TYPES OF SERVERS DO THEY RUN ON? Windows based servers or servers setup to run ASP Script.

WHY IS IT SO GREAT? What is really neat about ASP is it doesn't matter what type of browser the user is using. ASP scripts run on the server. The server can manipulate databases, other files, etc... just by the user access the asp script. Scripts can generate HTML coding or the ASP page can display HTML that you have pre-defined so either way, doesn't matter what browser is used, the server presents the html that just about any browser can read..

WHAT IS ASP SCRIPT LANGUAGE? ASP's language is Visual Basic Scripts or VBScript. You can still use other scripting languages like Microsoft's version of JavaScript (JScript).

WHAT ELSE IS DIFFERENT ABOUT ASP TO HTML? ASP pages have extension .asp instead of .html. If a page requested by the browser contains .asp extension, then the server knows to read all coding contained on the file before sending the HTML to the browser. This way all the ASP is run on the web server and no ASP will ever be passed to the web browser, keeping your codes a secret!

    ASP pages cannot be run by just simply opening the page in a web browser. It must be opened through a web server that supports ASP, hence Active Server Pages.

    Microsoft introduced ASP on their server, Internet Information Server (IIS), which you will hear much about in your ASP learning experience if you continue to program. ASP traditionally runs better on Windows 2000/XP Pro/NT4 servers as Microsoft were the founders of ASP. 

WINDOWS SERVERS... CAN I SET UP MY COMPUTER TO BE A SERVER AND RUN SCRIPTS? Why, YES you can! You will need to install Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS). You will be surprised to know that Microsoft was not stingy for once! IIS or Personal Web Server (PWS) depending one which version of Windows you have comes free! Just install.

Windows 2000/XP Pro - IIS can be found in "Add/Remove Programs" in the "Control Panel".

How to install IIS on Windows 2000 Tutorial 
How to install IIS on Windows XP Pro Tutorial

Windows 98 - PWS can be found under "add-ons" on the Windows 98 CD.

Windows NT4/95 - Download the NT4 Option Pack (also runs on Windows 95) from Microsoft.

Windows ME/Windows XP Home Edition - IIS and PWS are not supported.