Is it worth learning classic ASP? [closed]

Question

I know the differences between ASP and ASP.NET generally, as I am new to both, so I don't understand all of them, but I get the fact that ASP.NET is built on top of Microsofts .NET framework, and is the next generation of ASP, but it's built from the ground up.

W3Schools and another question here on SO provided great help explaining the difference!

I was wondering if it is worth it to fully learn Classic-ASP before diving into ASP.NET.

Why do people still use Classic-ASP? I've heard about the benefits which ASP.NET provides, and it seems like it would be worth it to switch.

Do people still use Classic-ASP because of server issues, or just because they prefer to work in it for some reason?

I would like some guidance on which I should start learning first, and why if anyone has any good suggestions?

UPDATE:

Thanks for the very helpful posts everyone! They gave me a great indicator of what is important, and why!

Thanks!!

Answer 1

There's little or no point learning classic asp as a precursor to asp.net as whilst similar in some respects(the Server, Request, Response objects and their associated methods, etc), they're different enough that one doesn't serve as a gentle introduction to the other.

If you've no need to know classic asp, definately go with asp.net as it's "the way of the future", be it in its MVC or WebForms guise. The only reason I can think of, now, to learn classic asp would be to support a legacy application. I'd be very surprised if there's any new "greenfield" development being carried out in classic asp on any great scale. There's also a great question (that I provided an answer to) that will give you some info on the differences between asp.net WebForms and MVC that's well worth a read.

When it comes to deciding "which language" out of the choice of C# and VB.net, pick whichever you find most comprehensible, at least initially. You'd be advised to at least consider C# as examples, samples, tutorials and suchlike are much more readily available in it. One look at the C# tag vs. the vb.net tag (105,977 questions against 10,815) here on stackoverflow makes it quite clear which has the broader uptake.

Answer 2

ASP.Net and Classic ASP really have nothing to do with each other. Yes, they are both technologies for building websites, but the relationship stops there. Incidentally, Classic ASP is more comparable to PHP than any .Net language.

Some people still have classic asp sites, but there aren't enough left to justify spending the time learning it... Unless you are already working on one. The main reasons any of those sites are still around is they still work (old bits don't exactly grow moss) and the cost to redo everything is high enough to not be justifiable.

Just learn C# and asp.net. Don't do VB.Net as it has a much smaller following.