Integrating enterprise database systems with the web and replacing static HTML with dynamic, database-driven web pages have become premier IT challenges in recent years. Out of the many technologies available for Database Web Integration, ASPs and JSPs are two of the most popular technologies for generating dynamic content for a web page.
Both Microsoft’s Active Server Pages (ASP) and Sun’s JavaServer Pages (JSP) are types of scripted web pages that can display dynamic content requested by a web browser. Both technologies use HTML for determining page layout. The primary difference between the two development methods is that ASPs generally interact with a back-end environment built with Microsoft technologies, while JSPs live in a Java-based environment. For generating content and querying databases or other applications, ASPs rely on programs written in embedded Microsoft scripting languages, while JSPs use Java programs. Following are some of the references that may be useful for developers and analysts, alike:
http://www.asptoday.com
ASPToday is a vast storehouse of knowledge on ASP, with a new, in-depth ASP article every single day! The catch is that you must subscribe ($99 for a year) to access this archive of over 500 articles. However, the site gives free access to the two most recent articles (yesterday’s and today’s), and lets you sign up to receive email summaries of new articles as they are published.
Active Server Pages (ASPs)
Many sites like, ASP ZONES at http://aspzone.com/ and Visual Basic Bookmark - ASP (Active Server Pages) resources at http://www.vb-bookmark.com/vbAsp.html provide a comprehensive list of ASP resources. Brief details of each site are explained that may provide the answer one is looking for. However, excerpts from an article "Top 3 Reference Sites For Your Favorite Server-Side Language" by Kevin Yank at http://www.webmasterbase. com suggest the following three best dedicated web sites for ASP. Browsing through these sites, one can hardly disagree with the author of the article.
http://www.4GuysFromRolla.com
Articles on the Net vouch for the fact that this site has long been the resource of choice for ASP developers in the know. The only failing reported for this site is that it doesn’t give a whole lot for beginners to go on. The expert articles, FAQs and advice on this site, are first-rate. 4GuysFromRolla is the best out of a number of ASP sites hosted by Internet.com. Its other ASP related sites viz., http://www.15seconds.com/ (for short, useful answers and code snippets) and http://www.asp101.com/ (for ASP beginners) are equally recommended.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/asp/
Microsoft themselves still have one of the best ASP sites out there at MSDN - Microsoft Developer Network! MSDN Library may be explored to know what’s available - there’s a lot to see. However, navigation in this vast sea of knowledge can sometimes be a bit tricky as familiarity is needed with the layout of the website.
Java Server Pages (JSPs) http://java.sun.com/products/jsp/
The official source of JavaServer Page™ Technology maintained by Sun Microsystems Inc. provides links to a host of JSP resources, which include Product Information, Technical Information, Dowloads, News and Articles, Success Stories, FAQs etc. Sun has made the JSP specification freely available to the development community, with the goal that every web server and application server will support the JSP interface.
http://www.onjava.com/onjava/jsp_servlets/
Hosted by O’Reilly and sponsored by BEA Systems, this site has a lot of industry muscle behind it, and may be considered a reliable independent source for Enterprise Java. Invaluable articles as well as links to the latest resources and events, ‘onjava.com’ should be among any Java developer’s bookmarks.