What are YOUR opinions on ASP.NET vs PHP?

Seriously, I've searched, browsed, searched, searched, browsed EVERYWHERE!!!! and yeah I'm not impressed. Too much of the blame game going on or something like that. Makes me wonder who I should really trust on this issue! It's making my head spin. Many of the references I've been looking are reaching the point of being unreliable data as they are 2-3 years old almost.

I've been on this forum for a while, and yes it is an ASP forum, but still, if you have had experience in both, I would really love to hear your take on ASP.NET (2) vs PHP. Just rant about both if you'd like. I'm not looking for a specific answer. Just want to know from experienced users.

PS - I've searched this forum already for this and read all of them, but those were from a while ago.

can't go by me ... since i'm always a day late and a dollar short anyway.

i learned novell networks, ms networks was the way to go
i learned ASP and ASP.NET was the way to go

anyhow, i was trained in ASP and did learn some PHP, but to me, at the time, ASP was easier and PHP was too much like programming ($ sign here, @ sign here). drove me nuts. but now i'll be learning ASP.NET since i figure i already have VB syntax down and can use VB to code ASP.NET.

but from what i understand PHP has a lot of built in features/functions that in ASP you had to write yourself. i think it would be a matter of what the job market wants in your area.

there were a lot of ASP jobs in my area until i learned it, then all of the jobs were for ASP.NET. alot of the freelance jobs that i see are for PHP. i should really take the time to do some more PHP just to be able to get some of these freelance things.

Just like mehere, I honestly believe that PHP is just a bit much overwhelming for noobs.
Asp.net on the other hand, has many built in functions you can use (Mostly in VB)
And like mehere mentioned, if you like asp, then vb.net will
make you feel right at home.

Which programming language do you choose when going .net?
If you feel comfy with vb, then choose vb.net
If you feel comfy with c++ or javascript, then choose c#

Synctatically, there are differences, but which is faster?
None are faster than the other .... why?
Cause when they're broken down, parsed and translated, they are exactly the same.

In my opinion, PHP is just too much of spaghetti code. Which is hard to debug.
Now that I'm coding using .net, believe me, I won't even try to use PHP.

I just love the code separation principle of asp.net

I completely agree with everything you said. Well done!

A little off topic... but... though I started in VB, I have learned to prefer C#. I think it's cleaner looking and uses fewer words. Nothing against VB, but it is a bit wordy. However when using .Net it doesn't seem to matter because most of the core functionality is the same.

As for the PHP vs. ASP debate I am not qualified to answer, but the word on the street (from people in my department that know), is that PHP is really easy to mess up. As Lewy said, it can also quickly turn into spaghetti code.

I would like to learn more about web programming / development, but when I do I will probably go with ASP.Net. Just my .02

We have quite a trend going with people converting to .Net. First me, then richy, then mehere, and now you Laura Let me tell you, it's really worth it. I don't think I could ever go back to Classic ASP.

Cheers Laura.

I'm a C# coder as well. I spent 3 years doing nothing than c++ so
I felt right at home with c#.
Gotta love the curly braces and how it the IDE tabs your code for you

blah, curly braces are just retarded pipes that can't stand up straight. C# is actually starting to grow on me as well, but I think I'll stick with VB.Net for now. Might eventually expand my C# skills, though

yeah lewy! I love that! The curly braces instead of the wordy "End Function" etc.. and the indent. Very nice. My only gripe is the case sensitivity. Still, I think C# is quickly becoming my favorite programming language. I can't wait until we can go to 2005 (our CTO has been slow on that). 2005 has some really nice features that I am looking forward to!

Interesting, when I have the time I think I look at a few books on ASP.NET. Personally, I started with PHP. Wasn't too bad. Hopefully I find ASP.NET 2's powerful tools I keep hearing about very useful. I would really love to develop a COMPLETE web app from scratch by myself and see it thrive on the web. Just like that one guy from plentyoffish.com. He's making millions off of a web app (really large dating community) he built himself from scratch. Might I add... he coded it in ASP first, then converted it to ASP.NET