In our ASP tutorial, every example shows the hidden ASP source code. This will make it easier for you to understand how it works.
An ASP file normally contains HTML tags, just like an HTML file. However, an ASP file can also contain server scripts, surrounded by the delimiters <% and %>.
Server scripts are executed on the server, and can contain any expressions, statements, procedures, or operators valid for the scripting language you prefer to use.
The response.write command is used to write output to a browser. The following example sends the text "Hello World" to the browser:
There is also a shorthand method for the response.write command. The following example also sends the text "Hello World" to the browser:
You can use several scripting languages in ASP. However, the default scripting language is VBScript:
The example above writes "Hello World!" into the body of the document.
To set JavaScript as the default scripting language for a particular page you must insert a language specification at the top of the page:
Note: JavaScript is case sensitive! You will have to write your ASP code with uppercase letters and lowercase letters when the language requires it.
ASP is shipped with VBScript and JScript (Microsoft's implementation of JavaScript). If you want to script in another language, like PERL, REXX, or Python, you will have to install script engines for them.