PHP VS ASP - What one makes sense?

• Currently2.9378698224852/5 Stars
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

The Question?

What is the more popular for web development? Microsoft's ASP / .NET or ZEND PHP. A better questions might be what is the overall best choice with all things being equal.

Why is this important? Some things to consider:

• How comfortable is your developer with the technology?

• How easily will a new developer be found?

• How is the support?

• Is there availability of good resources to learn more about the technology?

The Experiment

So I posted 2 identical ads in my local area on craigslist.org one for a PHP developer another for an ASP developer. I put pay as “based on experience and skill level”

The Results

Total responses after 3 days: 24

Asp developers 8 of those 4 were from the United States

Php Developers 12 of those 11 where from the United States, one from Toronto Canada.

Both: 4

Analysis

It appears from 3 days of data that PHP developers are easier to find, and will be more likely to be found in a given area, (Minneapolis, MN) than ASP developers.

• However it could also mean that PHP developers visit cragslist more often.

• I would venture to say that it appears that developers from India are more familiar with ASP.

• PHP developers could be less employable, thus they are looking for a job. But the experiment was to find just that, how easy is it to find a developer.

• Since it was twice as easy to find a PHP developer today, than an ASP developer, and Global Warming is easier to find, they must be linked, and so PHP developers are also causing global warming.

• Most ASP developers have jobs.

Conclusion

It appears, yes a php developer is easier to find, however are they good? Do they work well with others? Is there a reason they are looking for a job? (other than money).

Overall I would agree, corporate websites seem to use Microsoft technologies more than OSS alternatives. Is this just them being locked into Microsoft products, or just not knowing any better? (No one has gotten fired for buying Microsoft). What about the on-line companies that are really doing anything on-line? Google, Yahoo, YouTube, MySpace, I believe they are all using OSS Software and technologies.

Yes, I'm biased. ASP to me has just never made sense, it follows it's own rules and syntax, like perl. PHP code looks like most other code I deal with, ActionScript, JavaScript, and CSS. I also did a comparison on a free script website, Hotscripts.com

• ASP + .NET = 4,617 Total Scripts.

• PHP = 13,214 Total Scripts

That's a ratio of 3:1 (approx). So on average you now have 3 scripts to choose from if you're looking for pre-made stuff. As an avid user of these type of scripts, it's invaluable to have more choices.

I say the Winner is PHP is better for overall all around use, easier to find a developer, and easier to educate a current developer. 3 Cheers for PHP.

Write a comment

Name:
Email:
Subject:
Comment: *

Security Code:
 

Todd
Posts: 2

Re: PHP VS ASP - What one makes sense?
Reply #2 on : Wed November 21, 2007, 13:05:37

---

Huh?

Quote: "Neither PHP nor ASP are best. Both of these platforms suffer from mixing presentation with logic."

This is not really an accurate statement. Yes you can mix your presentation with logic, but you don't have to. I've built my own templating system and many others exist...Smarty is probably the most popular. PHP is very flexible and doesn't force convention - which can be good or bad, depending on the experience of the developer.

Steve
Posts: 2

How about none of the above.
Reply #1 on : Thu May 24, 2007, 06:55:26

---

Neither PHP nor ASP are best. Both of these platforms suffer from mixing presentation with logic. They work great for simple dynamic sites but quickly become brittle on larger projects.

If you are going to do anything more complex than brochure-ware I'd suggest trying some of the better MVC frameworks.

I like http://turbogears.org myself.