JSP is stronger than ASP, but not asp.net

by Corey Roth, Senior Web Developer
Special to ZDNet

Fo R A while, the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (EE) architecture looked like the best way to develop multi-tiered Ons. Java Server pages (JSP) and Servlets had many advantages over the Active Server pages (ASP) and Component Object Model (CO m+) platforms. However, I is the "about to" change with Microsoft. Net on the horizon. Microsoft. Net is providing a similar platform but with more functionality, and it quite possibly could have the Foundatio N for being cross-platform at some stage. According to Sun, JSP are better than ASP for the following reasons:it has platform and server independence, It has Extens Ible JSP tags and ASP is interpreted. Luckily, ASP. Net changes all of this.
The biggest argument why Java is superior are that it is a cross-platform environment. Having cross-platform are great, but at what cost? The Java is slow by design. With Java, every time for your run your program it goes through the Java Virtual Machine, an interpreter, which, then converts T He Java byte codes to native code. Microsoft may end has support for platform independence with the way programs are with Microsoft. Net.

When "A" is compiled and. Net, it is compiled into a DLL or EXE in Microsoft intermediate Language (MSIL) format, a Processor independent assembly language. MSIL does not contain any dependencies to any particular operating system or architecture. The is executed, the IT uses Just in Time (JIT) compilation to convert the MSIL into native code. So the "I" you run it, it may is slower, but subsequent executions'll be faster. As you can, this is has the potential for adaptation to a cross-platform situation, but Microsoft hasn ' t made any promise S of that yet.

Now, I don ' t know if Microsoft'll ever actually convert. Net to work on other platforms, but they are putting the Suppor T in there for it. My response to Cross-platform is:who cares? For Java, all this means is ' it works on different types of Unix. As far as I am concerned, the Intel platform is the ' only one ' is worth bothering with. Designwise it may being inferior to the SPARC or Alpha, but the Intel platform are the only one of Microsoft develops for.

tags and scripts
ASP 3.0 does not have extensible tags, a advantage that JSP has to held over ASP for quite time. Now with ASP. Net, extensible tags are available. Through the use of Web Forms, ASP. Net are able to does data binding, form validation and more without the developer has T O Write any script in all. Developers even have the ability to write their own custom Web Form controls to suit their the own.

Another problem in the past with ASP is, it was a interpreted language, whereas JSP pages are compiled into Servlets The the "the" the JSP page is accessed. What Sun neglects to mention are that the servlet are still interpreted with the Java Virtual Machine. With ASP. Net, the pages would now is precompiled to MSIL and then the use JIT compiling, just the like JSP. The difference is. Net gets compiled once to native code, and servlets are interpreted time every they are. In the long run, I am the this would result in. Net code being more efficient.

Microsoft ' s. Net May is perfect. Since it still is in beta, the it may change quite a bit before it is actually released. However, I Great alternative to what we had before. In the past, using COM and the Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) is a nightmare for developers and using Java-ee was slower than death. I admit for a long, the Java EE platform is superior to ASP and COM +. With. Net coming soon, Sun should is looking for new ways to improve its platform and remain. Otherwise, it may is losing future developers.

Corey Roth is a Senior web Developer to Word spinners, a Tulsa, ok-based Web development company. He has five years of the experience in developing WEB sites, and started his web development to career at Creative. Corey is also considered a local expert in Microsoft technologies, including Active Server Pages, COM + and Microsoft Site Server.

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