ASP Full Form - What is Full Form of ASP?

ASP full form is Active Server Pages, and it’s considered to be Microsoft’s first server-side scripting engine to build dynamic web pages. An ASP generally comprises standard HTML and scripts. The use of server-side scripting technology in the ASP enables a swift web browsing experience as this technique does not affect user experience irrespective of the browser type. Tha sscripting engines use VBScript as the default language, but developers are liberal to switch to any other scripting languages that include JavaScript.

What is ASP Full Form?

ASP full form is Active Server Pages which helps display dynamic web pages. It is perhaps the most widely acclaimed technology used by the IT sector. Initially, Microsoft introduced the active web server in their web server. The creation of interactive and dynamic web pages is made possible with the scripting engine. 

ASP applications are primarily used in window-based servers rather than on UNIX that makes it a bit inaccessible for SMEs to include in their workflow. Well, in today’s time, ASP has been transformed into ASP.NET to offer more empowerment to software engineers. If you are curious to learn about the features, benefits and uses of ASP then keep reading our article.

Highlights on ASP

An Overview of Working of ASP

Web development applications basically work on either hypertext-preprocessor or active server pages. ASP applications work best in projects whereby massive data is required to be handled. This scripting engine has gained wide accessibility and excessive demand due to its easy interactivity. 

You can identify a page using ASP with the extension “.asp”. Whenever a browser receives a request from a page containing an asp extension, the web server first interprets the ASP page before sending HTML. You cannot simply run a web page that contains the ASP extension only by clicking on the page, requesting through a web server that supports ASP is necessary. 

One of the primary reasons for using an active server page is because it offers a simplified platform to insert codes to build web pages without worrying much about its maintenance. ASP codings are considered to be the most secure pens compared to types of sites as codes cannot be viewed from a browser. 

Historical Background of Active Server Pages (ASP Full Form)

The active server pages were introduced initially as a part of the Internet Information Services (IIS) in 1996, it was a component of windows server at a time when the windows 2000 server was released. Since its introduction, it has undergone a lot of updates and protocol amendments. Some of the top versions of ASP are:

• ASP 3.0- released in November 2000 and included in the IIS 5.0
• ASP 1.0- released in December 1996 and falls part of the IIS 3.0
• ASP 2.0-released in September 1997 and forms a part of the IIS 4.0

In the ASP 2.0 version, the state of variables in pages is maintained with six built-in objects that include session, application, request, server, ASPError and response. As far as the capabilities or function of the 3.0 version is concerned, it works the same as the 2.0 version. However, some extra features like the transfer method, and enhanced ASPError are present in 3.0 that help to offer better performance.

Till January 2020, Windows 7 supported the ASP whose full form is active server pages, well, today every IIS version supports the active server pages. 

The Salient Features of ASP

The ASP server-side engine reads and executes a file containing a .asp extension and after verification sends it to the browser. This scripting engine is allowing web developers and software engineers to create dynamic web pages swiftly. 

To enable you to understand the purposes served by ASP, we have listed some of the characteristics displayed by the scripting engine.

• Code-behind-Model: To effectively deal with the dynamic program codes, Microsoft recommends its use because this feature ensures a separate class file is holding each code bound to the page. 
• User control: These are containers where you can place markup and different web server controls. 
• Rendering techniques: Render technique helps to create markup and text which is transferred to the client’s browser. 
• Custom controls: Several custom controls can be used in the ASP. In it, a dynamic link library file is created by compiling the code. 

What are the Pros and Cons of ASP?

Web developers prefer using ASP for its affordability, easy maintenance and swift function. The best part is, any web page can be created using ASP without a language barrier because it is language-independent. Well, we will try to find out the benefits and loopholes that ASP portrays for a better understanding of the scripting engine.

Pros:

Flexibility

ASP is not bound by any specific programming language that offers it better flexibility. Developers get a chance to choose from different languages that suit their specific application. You can easily access data solutions, common language runtime’s base class libraries and messaging.

Performance

Common language runtime is adopted to compile the codes written on the ASP. This system is considered to be the fastest and most efficient of all other scripting engines. Users can get benefits like automatic memory management, caching services, early binding, runtime profiling and many other features.

Tool support

ASP portrays features that allow users to take complete charge of web controls like drag and drop, and double clicks to write codes. It is supported by the XCOPY deployment that does not require users to register and reap the benefits of an uninterrupted server. 

Cons:

Syntax issue

ASP makes use of syntax which is similar to visual basics thereby, making it difficult for a programmer to familiarize themself with all of them. This limitation on a base language encourages users to prefer PHP over ASP.

High cost

To run an ASP program requires users to install IIS on a windows server which is pretty expensive. In fact, database connectivity that uses MS-SQL incur high cost.

Speed

Active Server Pages (ASP full form) is built on a COM architecture which somehow restricts its speed. Though it is a fast application; however, if we compare it with PHP, the latter is the fastest.