Technical definitions in english, please: Coldfusion, ASP, XML, etc.?

Question

I'm trying (for the first time!) to build a database-driven dynamic website and am lost in the terminology.

Could someone explain the following:

The difference between Coldfusion and .NET? Are they roughly equivilant programs from different vendors?

How does ASP relate to ColdFusion? Is ColdFusion a way of implementing ASP, or something else entirely?

What, exactly, is ColdFusion is used for? I've read that it "gives database backend to web-based front end connectivity", but that's all greek to me. I'd really like specific, real world examples of what ColdFusion can (and is) used for.

Plain english definitions of some of the terms that typically are often used with CF (such as ASP, PHP, Access-- how does it all connect)?

Does it matter what database I use (e.g. is Access 2003 okay for a relatively simple database that will be used by ColdFusion and Dreamweaver?

Are there any special considerations in web hosting that I will have to allow for because I'm using CF?

Answer 1

.Net is a microsoft framework language. It's like, a foundation of a house kind of (loose analogy)



Coldfusion is a program, .NET is a framework language.



ASP (specificall ASP.NET) can be implemented via Coldfusion's GUI. If you've got .aspx server controls on your server, Coldfusion can do its thing on those for DB reports.



ColdFusion in the capacticy I've used it for, is a reporting mechanism; like a inhouse dataminer on Steriods. If you've got it running agains a ASP database, then now you can run custom-written reports against this database and gather information (simlar to CrystalReports).



ASP = Programming Language typically for Database-related interfaces; like webSites that interface with DB's (.aspx file extensions

PHP = Scripting language for Web Development. Dynamic content and web site creation

Access = Microsoft's Database management tool; SQL based tool, similar to Oracle except that its got a User interface instead of being Text driven.



It shouldn't matter, because ColdFusion and Dreamweaver should both support SQL databases... or at least be configured to be able to. However, I would look into ASP



None that I'm aware of... make sure the hosting site doesn't care about implementing .php on the site (they shouldn't since you're paying for just space.. not content)

Answer 2

Idk about cold fusion, but....



ASP and PHP do about the same thing but are implemented way differently. I like php a lot better. They are both interpreted languages for the server-side. They usually do some sort of database query (like w/ access or something)and then send HTML back to the client.



Access is fine for most stuff. MySQL is what I use, and it is free, which is cool.

Answer 3

What???????????