I decided to take an inventory of database file extensions to see which was most popular by seeing how many Google listed. Here is what I found:

ASP - 20,400,000
ASPX - 650,000
PHP - 13,900,000
PHP3 - 5,680,000
PHTML - 2,150,000
JSP - 5,250,000
CFM - 5,100,000
lasso - 72,500
BD - 60,400
MDB - 33,000

I personally use ASP for one site and PHP for another. Soon with the release of a new shopping cart, I'll be using CFM. What are you guys using? Which would you pick to be the leader in 2 years? Who's going to be out of the race in 2 years?

I have a personal liking for PHP because it's inexpensive, well documented, has a ton of pre-written scripts out there, and seems fast enough. I've known many to swear by ASP, but I really don't see what the hype is all about. Of course, I know little about ASP.NET, but I'm sure I'll learn. PHP is growing so fast. It's definitely worth considering. Cold fusion seems promising and I'll be learning more over the next few months. JSP seems only good for the large scale, but far too complicated for the average site.

now i use php. but i was using asp.

I've been Using Cold Fusion for the past 3 years. I LOVE IT!
I also use ASP once in a while if clinet doesn't want CF.
I'm learning ASP.NET now. I think it's going to be huge

Personally I use PHP and so far haven't found anything I can't do with it. I think that it will probably be the language of the future (for a while at least) because not only is it open source but it works well with MySQL, which is also open source. Nice and easy to learn too....

Hi David,

I've never heard of Lasso. Do you have any site that explains this programming language? Also, of what is BD a file extension? I don't believe I have heard of that either. Don't forget: PL and CGI are two more extensions that you may want to include in your survey as well.

At the moment, I don't know any one of the scripting languages well, but I am working on learning PHP and JSP. I already have a book on PHP, and I am familiar with Java and JavaScript (so the task of learning the JSP syntax should be less strenous).

Find out about lasso here:
http://www.lassostudio.com/
BD is a typo. It should be DB.
JSP is pretty heavy duty. I would say it is mostly used on large corporate stuff. ASP and PHP are much more user friendly IMO.

1) I am not sure if you meant to do this but none of these except db and mdb are actually database extensions as you called them. Asp, php, jsp, and cfm are just file extensions and then database systems include flat text based, Access, MySql, SQL, mSQL, SyBase, PostgreSQL. It seems to me your survey doesn't make sense because someone using php file extensions could be accessing any of the above database systems and the only way to know would be to look inside their code or (in the case of Access databases) to search for their extensions.

2) Another flaw is that the number of pages (.php .asp .jsp .cfm) is not neccisarily proportional to the language. Some people use php but enable .htm or .html so that those pages can be parsed also by the php engine.

3) The number of pages doesn't mean that each one has its own database either. A page can access many databases or access none.

4) Access databases are mostly run over dsn's which makes it possible for Access databases to be hidden from the internet and therefor protect them from being directly downloaded. The 34000 odd access databases you found are probably used by people who do not need any security or do not know about dsn's. The number of access databases if for sure much higher than that.

Hope this helped. Unfourtunately it would be very hard to come up with an accurate count of database methods and server-side parsed pages without asking the people who created them.
-dk

Your points are quite valid. I am showing some raw data to see what assumptions we can make. Can we make the assumption that PHP and ASP are the leading languages for database connectivity? I would say yes. Are these page counts an accurate comparison? No. Unless I missed a language, we can at least support the idea that Cold Fusion is in third place. Why might this data be important? Because we want to choose technology for our websites that will be around for a while. This data also supports the idea that PHP is not just a distant second, but a major contendor.

I need to learn these languages they seem popular and i feel left out

I am under the impression that ASP and PHP are about level pegging, with PHP becoming more popular because of it's open source nature. I'm suprised that you did not include Perl in your survey, after all, it was the most popular scripting language in it's time and I'm sure there are plenty of older sites out there using it... particularly the smaller ones. I'd think that Perl is about the 3rd most used scripting language on the web, although I wouldn't have expected the figures for ColdFusion to be comparable with JSP... I thought JSP was the more popular of the two.

What I find quite disturbing is the number of Access databases that Google turfed up - I hope that the majorty of these are those that are provided as examples and not actual live working databases that contain sensitive information... someone mght have a field day with the information in those!

Each has its perks but:

PHP is on the rise, and is an excellent language set

ASP is great but the servers limit it

.NET will be alot of fun once more & more people get into it

PERL is old school, but the king of all!

CFM is just too easy!!!!



-Ry

Regarding PHP .. dont forget .php3 and .phtml! ;-)

Personally ... I use PHP ... its fast, easy, and servers any purpose I need.

The problem, is that commercially, IT managers can be idiots and dont have a clue what PHP is. Therefore they either insist on JSP [which can be quite a load, but is very scalable and robust], or ASP, just because it is a product.

I personally can't stand ASP ... it makes things too confusing, and there is no real native support on UNIX. But with MS making their huge .NET push, Im afraid I am going to have to plunk down and fully learn it.

Dammit!

PHP. Fast, easy, works great with mySQL.

I've updated my initial post to include PHP3, PHTML, and ASPX.

We hafe a new winner!
PHP driven pages: 21,730,000
ASP driven pages: 21,050,000

Open source rules!

Its very simple.

If you are in a non-entreprise/corporate solution, PHP will do more than what you need.

BUT, in an entreprise/corporate area, ASP.NET works better! Why? Because of the unification of one platform [.NET], it is a lot less hassle in such circumstances to use ASP. THe language may suck [ugh!], but higher ups dont want the hassle of another language and db type in their area.

Before i use php, i would say that asp is my choice. But now php would be my first choice. It is easy to use with a lot of built in function. It did save me a lot of time. One more reason is that my previous experience with Sun Solaris let me master php easily. So, if between asp and php, i will definitely choose php. For .NET, i'm not sure about it.

I worked with ASP and i saw many of the other possibilities : PERL, PHP, JSP, ASP.NET,COLDFUSION before starting to learn .

I chose CFM because its fast(CFM compiles in JSP), very simple and at the same time i can use cf_script to complicate things when i need(rarely hapens). The application, client, server variable managing, many stuff like cf_file, cf_mail, cf_query, webservices, xml, cfx, cf_chart ... its simply FANTASTIC.

More, i think that ASP.NET is taking winforms to the web! Thats good news to windows developers, but the webpage will never be a form! Example: the server events do not exist... it involves a transition ! Also its eavy and slow.

My solution is: :
HMTL generated by CFM, CSS linking, JavaScript and a bit of XML when needed.

PHP...just the best

-James

Wow, talk about pulling a thread out of the bottom of the barrel! I like it!

As long as we're talking about it again, I'll say this: for years I was a big believer in ASP/ADO -- but I am firmly in the camp of PHP and MySQL.

For any given project, all the languages can do the same thing. I think much of the decision should be based on what you already know how to do.
Cold Fusion is easy to learn.
PHP has more free apps available than the others.
ASP works great with the windows platform.
They all have their strengths...you just have to decide which one is best for you.