asp vs javascript vs perl vs php vs asp.net.....

which do you stick with if any?

[Blelisa]

I have gone to school and gotten certified with xhtml and css and webgrahics and multi-media. I felt the next step was to go on to programming. However, when I started looking at all the different languagues I got confused. I was hoping someone would be so kind as to answer a few questions for me.

1.) what is the difference between programs and their .net counterparts. (ie asp vs asp.net)Is there a preference to one over the other?

2.) I would like to consider conquering one languague that will be versatile enough to be able to create dynamic websites instead of kinda having an idea about multiple languages. Is it worth doing this and if so which one would you choose.

I realize that these questions have alot to do with opinions. I was hoping to get a good dialogue going that will help me make an informed decision.

Thanks!

-Lisa

[Nutter]

I think one of two things will come back as answers to your question - 1) Different tools (languages) for different tasks & 2) Religious language discussion similar to Apple versus Windows or Canon versus Nikon.

Here's how I wound up at PHP and Javascript to see if that helps.

My first language was Visual Basic - databases and such. When I wanted to write for a web site VBScript and ASP was the logical choice. But, I wanted to write a site that needed more speed than an Access backend so I needed a SQL server. MS SQL was too expensive and MySQL is free. ASP hosting is more expensive than PHP hosting (generally). Plus, this was about when ASP.Net started coming out and it appeared ASP was on its way out. So, I figured I needed to learn PHP to save money :) Javascript was added for client side - VBScript was too limited since it's just in IE.

So, here I sit primarily using PHP / MySQL with the occassional JavaScript file thrown in.