Difference between JSP and ASP

JSP vs ASP

JSP (Java Server Pages) and ASP (Active Server Pages) are two of the commonly used server side scripting languages that are used today in web development. ASP was created by Microsoft as part of its IIS that provides the user with tools needed to create a web site on his Windows computer. It can be considered as free as ASP itself does not cost money, but the fact that you need Windows means that you are still going to spend money. JSP was created by Sun Microsystems as an extension to Java.

Despite having the same task, JSP and ASP achieves their tasks in different ways. ASP code are interpreted on the fly each time it is accessed while JSP pages can either be interpreted or compiled into a servlet. This means that JSP pages actually takes a little bit longer to load because it needs to be compiled first. But after it has loaded, it would actually perform faster just as long as the code does not require any changes. Once the code changes, it needs to be recompiled which takes longer. In cases where code changes happens very often to the point that the performance deteriorates a lot, the coder can opt to have his pages interpreted on the fly just like ASP with the more or less the same level of performance. JSP coders also have a choice of either compiling into a Java servlet, which are still platform independent, or into the operating system’s native bytecode.

As of today, most web developers are using either JSP or the improved version of ASP called ASP.NET. For people who are using a web server that’s running Microsoft Windows, using ASP or ASP.NET is already a given. Those who use open source software like Linux can choose between a few options that are either free or not. Most people use other open source software like PHP while JSP stands a distant second.

Summary:
1. JSP and ASP are both server side scripting languages
2. JSP is from Sun Microsystems while ASP is from Microsoft
3. ASP costs money while JSP is free.
4. ASP code is interpreted while JSP code is compiled at run time
5. JSP code can run faster than ASP if there are fewer changes
6. Majority of Windows users use ASP while users of open source operating systems like Linux use JSP among others.

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