Article No. 226
Created: 04:18 AM 06.15.04
Author: HPU Support [Link: support@homepageuniverse.com]
Original URL: https://my.homepageuniverse.com/support/knowledgebase/question.php?qstId=226
PHP is Open Source software, which means that code, manual, updates and support are all provided free for anyone to use. Although the ASP script engine comes included with IIS and PWS, minimal support is available free. Running Microsoft operating systems at a commercial level is always costly.
ASP will also likely never be as fast as PHP due to the architecture. When an ASP programmer uses VBScript, he is running a COM object. This means when he writes a client, he is calling the Response COM. When he accesses a database, he uses abouth COM object. Then, when he accesses the file system, he is using yet another COM object. These objects add up and slow things down whereas PHP modules run on PHP memory making it faster and more efficient. PHP also has superior memory management over ASP because it only uploads the files that are required. With ASP, if a file example, header.asp is referenced in twenty web pages then twenty copies of the file are maintained in memory.
There are also no additional costs with PHP. Everything is built into it. With ASP, you need to purchase separate licenses for encryption, mail management and file uploading and so on.