What is Active Server Pages (ASP)?

Active Server Pages is popularly known as ASP . It is a technology that facilitates you to make dynamic and interactive web pages. ASP uses server-side scripting to actively produce web pages that are not affected by the type of browser the user of a web site. VBScript is the default scripting language used for writing ASP. But you can use other scripting languages like Microsoft's version of JavaScript, called JScript.

ASP pages have the extension .asp instead of .html. When a page with the extension .asp is requested by a browser the web server understands to interpret any ASP contained within the web page before sending the HTML produced to the browser. This way all the ASP is run on the web server, and not passed on to the web browser. Web pages containing ASP can be run only by requesting through a web server that supports ASP.

Microsoft was first to introduce ASP on its web server, Internet Information Services (IIS). It is this web server that ASP pages usually run best on. IIS runs on Windows 2000/XP Pro/NT4.

If you are running Windows and wish to use ASP on your own system you will need to install Microsoft's Internet Information Services (IIS). IIS or its micro version Personal Web Server (PWS) comes free with Windows.

If you are using Windows, you can find Internet Information Services (IIS) or Personal Web Server (PWS) in the following places:

  • Windows XP Home Edition - IIS and PWS are not supported on this operating system.
  • Windows ME - IIS and PWS are not supported on this operating system.
  • Windows NT4/95 - You can get hold of IIS by downloading the NT4 Option Pack from Microsoft.
  • Windows 98 - PWS can be found under 'add-ons' on the Windows 98 CD.
  • Windows 2000/XP Pro - IIS can be found in 'Add/Remove Programs' in the 'Control Panel'.
  • Windows Vista - IIS can be found in 'Programs and Features' in the 'Control Panel'.