If you are old enough to have developed websites and web applications in ASP (not ASP.NET), then you almost certainly used VBScript.

ASP, you may be interested to know, stood for Active Server Pages.

Fun times!

You would output text to be sent to the browser like this:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<%
Response.Write("Hello World!")
%>
</body>
</html>

This code would send the string “Hello World” to the browser.

Back then, Microsoft Access was the go-to free database.

Database access was via ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), the ancestor of ADO.NET.

You would access it like this:

<%
set conn = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
conn.Provider="Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0"
conn.Open "c:\Data\data.mdb"

// Create a recordset
set rs = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")
rs.Open "Select FirstName, Surame from Users", conn

// Loop through each record and output
do until rs.EOF
  for each x in rs.Fields
    Response.Write(x.FirstName)
    Response.Write(" ")
    Response.Write(x.Surname)
    Response.Write("<br>")
  next
    
  Response.Write("<br>")
    
  rs.MoveNext
loop

rs.Close
%>

There were no controllers, routes, and other fancy things like are commonplace these days.

Fun times!

You could also write ASP with JScript, but the vast majority of developers used VBScript.

You could also use VBScript to do Windows Automation, as well as write macros in Microsoft Office.

You probably may have missed this, but last year, on May 22, 2024, Microsoft announced the deprecation of VBScript, recommending the use of JavaScript or PowerShell instead.

Technology has advanced over the years, giving rise to more powerful and versatile scripting languages such as JavaScript and PowerShell. These languages offer broader capabilities and are better suited for modern web development and automation tasks.

The second phase of deprecation will take effect next year.

I spent many years writing ASP applications, and I have fond memories of the time.

However, in this industry, you must move with the times even more quickly than most.

TLDR

VBScript is undergoing the deprecation process.

Happy hacking!