You can take this course on Windows, Macintosh, or Linux Platforms.
However, to complete the exercises in this course, you must have access to a computer running Windows 2000 PRO, Windows 2000 Server, or Windows XP.

If you are going to learn the basics of ASP, you'll need to write and run scripts for ASP pages.
The following list contains the software that you will need to take this course.
You will find a complete list of required software below. Web server software
Only Microsoft servers for Windows supports ASP. You'll need one of the following:

1. Internet Information Server--IIS only runs on Windows NT Server.
   We recommend IIS 5.0 because it supports ASP 2.0.
   Don't forget that in this course, you'll be writing your own scripts and testing them, so you probably don't want to use a production Web server for your own experimentation.
2. Personal Web Server: You can run PWS on either Windows NT Workstation 4.0 or Windows 95/98. You can get PWS for either operating system by downloading the NT 4.0 Option Pack.

Finding and downloading the software you need from Microsoft's site can be confusing. If you need help, check the Software section of the course Resources page If you can't find what you need there, email your course tutor.
Information on installing Personal Web Server and testing it with an ASP script is in a lesson at the end of this Module. If you already have IIS or PWS installed and have verified the installation, you can skip that lesson.

Any Web browser will do to view your ASP pages, but you'll need to have or install Internet Explorer 4.01 or higher to download the NT 4.0 Option Pack with PWS and IIS. Once you install your server, you can use any browser to test your pages.

ODBC data source (optional)
You don't have to have an ODBC data source, but if you want to improvise your own exercises when we cover database access, you'll need an ODBC-compliant data source. Most every Windows database is ODBC-compliant. You will be able to complete the exercises and the course without a database of your own.

HTML Editor/Text Editor
Since ASP scripts are written as part of HTML pages, you can use any HTML editor that you may already be using. If you write your HTML in any kind of a text editing program (including the one that comes with your computer), that will fine, too.

You will need to decompress the software for this course. For instructions on how to do this, go to the Setup page.

You can download a compressed file that contains HTML pages and partially-completed ASP scripts for your course project. This file is named asp-scripts.zip, and it can be downloaded at any time prior to the end of the next module.
In the next lesson, the course resources will be discussed.