Active Server Pages (ASP) allows for powerful web application development. It is
both simple to use and, with its extensibility through ActiveX and Java components,
very powerful. But what is it? Is it a programming language? No, not exactly.
Is it a Microsoft-only rapid development platform? No, not really.
Active Server Pages is a technology originally created by Microsoft as an answer to
the sometimes complex problems posed by CGI application development. It
allows you to use any scripting language, from VBScript to Python, to create realworld
web applications.

Although originally only available for Microsoft platforms, ASP is quickly becoming
available for nearly any web server on many operating systems. Microsoft suggests
that there are 250,000 web developers using ASP and over 25,000 web applications
built using ASP. So you’re not alone.

You hold in your hands the desktop reference for this exciting technology.

This book is intended as a reference guide for developers who write Active Server
Page web applications. Whether you are a professional developer paid to work
magic with the Web or an amateur trying to figure out this web development
thing, this book is for you. If you are coming to ASP from CGI, I hope this book
will help make your transition from CGI to ASP an easy one.
I hope this book will be a very accessible, very convenient reference book. While
I was writing this book, I envisioned myself (or one of you) with half a line of
code written, trying to remember what options were available for the specific
property or method I was attempting to use. I wanted a quick access book that
would sit on my desk and be there when I needed it. I hope I have achieved that
goal.