ASP (Active Server Pages) being stuff that resides on the server side, does this mean i can't test ASP pages unless i have a server? Im reading an ASP book, and it gives an ASP example using &#106avascript. I've yet to try the code out, but this one question is ambiguous, although common sense would lead me to think it resides on the server. If it does indeed resides on the server, what would be an example of this? and what advantages do we get from pages being generated on the server???

Yes, you definitely need a server to test ASP code. As far as I am aware, IIS is the only server that renders ASP. If my second sentence is misinforming the OP, someone please correct me!

If you have Windows 2000 or Windows XP Professional, you have an IIS server available through the Windows installation disks or through online updates from Microsoft. You just need to put a check mark next to Internet Information Services (IIS) in the Windows Components section of the add/remove programs dialog box. You can even set up IIS for XP Home Edition. The server is able to run ASP, ASP+, and ASP.net pages assuming you install everything correctly.

Some kinds of code execute on the server: Anything inside <% and %> blocks is server code. Anything with runat="server" is server code. Anything with <asp:control ... > is server code. A few special files like web.config will only be run on the server and never get displayed.

Everything else will be sent to the web browser and is run on the client side.