Hi everyone. I need to make myself a proffessinal website now. I know how to make the basic website with just flash,html,&#106avascript on all the rest of the client side scripts/lanugagues. But now i need to step up a level. I need to be able to store databases on the system. Allowing the user to search. Allow regestration,etc. I was wondering how would do all of this ive heard of asp or php. Could you please tell me the diffrences and advantages. keep in mind that I program mainly in VC++ (and know of ODBC using MFC) and occasionally in visual basic. Thanx in advance Iain Fraser PS I haven''t bought a host yet, but when I find out which is the best kind of script I will buy host with support for that

A webhost I recommend: iPowerWeb. pretty good. 500 mb, 20 gig transfer, 300 pop mail boxes, php, sql and asp support. only 7,95 US$ a month I believe. And most important: They have a good helpdesk Everytime I had a problem with something, they responded personally within 24 hours and they did not give me some predefined answers (you get those as well, about 1 minute after you ask for help. it suffices 90% of the time. good knowledge base).

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Now for some web-programming. I've been doing some webdesign to generate money for my game projects. I've always used PHP in compination with MySQL. Both are free and very good. I also has a large active user base and there are tons of tutorials for it. ASP is a standard that has been developed my Microsoft. I have little experience with it but from what i've heard it's a bit 'top-heavy' if you understand what I mean. IIRC the new gamedev forums are going to be php as well instead of asp.

I find the php language pretty easy to use. It's a bit like c++ so you should have no problem there. The only thing I found a bit confusing in the begining was connecting and using the database. SQL can be tricky at times. Also a great benefit: If you download apache (free) you can create PHP/MySQL site's on your own computer so you don't have to upload/test all the time.

Sander Maréchal
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[edited by - sander on July 3, 2003 6:47:32 AM]

I agree with Sander completely here. I''ve also been developing sites with PHP. In my opinion, it''s a very powerful language. The syntax is practically an extremely simplified version of C++. The documentation is extensive, but very very clear. The language is very standardized, as are the libraries provided, which cover about anything you could wish for with webscripting.

I must honestly say that I have no real experience with ASP, although a few first impressions gave me the strong idea of a very un-organized, messy language. Anyway, the free-factor of PHP/MySQL is one of the most important for me....

thanx guys, you swayed me. Im checking out tutorials now