ASP is defined as Active Server Pages. ASP runs inside Internet Information Services (IIS). This IIS is a component of Windows. ASP allows us to edit, change or add any content of a web page. It responds to user queries or data given from HTML forms. Any data or databases are accessed easily and the results are returned to the browser. It is helpful in customizing a web page; this feature makes the page more useful for individual users.

PHP is defined as Pre Hypertext Processor. PHP is a server-side, cross platform, HTML scripting language. The syntax of PHP is almost similar to C and Java. The goal of PHP is to allow web developers to write dynamically generated pages quickly.

PHP eliminates the need for numerous small CGI programs by allowing us to place simple scripts directly in HTML files. It also makes easier to manage large web sites by placing all components of a web page in a single HTML file. PHP has a perfect blend of compilation and interpretation. It is a used as general purpose scripting language which is suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML.

The difference between PHP and ASP is that ASP is a Microsoft product based on visual basic syntax whereas PHP has C and Java based syntax. ASP works better on Microsoft servers.

ASP has the possibility to run on Linux and BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) which is referred to the particular version of the UNIX operating system. ASP is mostly not recommended for BSD because it relies a lot on external components that often come in the form of Dynamic Linked Library ((DLL) which lists the other pages on the web where one can find additional information) that needs to be physically registered on the server.

PHP works fine on both environments. Linux/BSD server will run the PHP scripts faster than a Windows. Both ASP and PHP languages are popular but PHP is more popular because of its Open License solutions, which can be implemented, free of cost or can be downloaded easily.

The installation of tools such as image manipulation, upload, email, etc. can be easily uploaded in PHP with a very large number of tools whereas ASP requires the registration of components to do that, most of these components are not free.

The speed of ASP is very slow which is not suitable for traffics whereas PHP is faster when compared to ASP. ASP works better with SQL Server and Access. PHP works very well with SQL. If PHP is used with database systems, the connectivity is slow compared to ASP. If there is Microsoft server, then ASP/SQL Server is used. If there is Linux or BSD Server, then PHP is used.

From the above differences between PHP and ASP, it can be concluded that PHP is better in use, especially in syntax, connectivity, and in toolbox, which can be easily installed. As far as the web boards are concerned, there are many awesome products, like PHPBB (Open License), Bulletins (OL), etc.

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