The secret advantages of older techies

I have been working with web development projects for over a decade, so I have had the opportunity to use various technologies as the web evolved. I often encounter new web developers preaching the latest and greatest technologies but, the truth is, there are plenty of functioning websites using older technologies. For that reason, it is hard to ignore these sites, and it can be advantageous to be familiar with the technologies they use.

The latest and greatest
It is great to keep up with technology advancements, but existing software is often slow to adopt new technologies. A good example is the development of new web standards via the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Standards such as CSS and XHTML continue to add features, but browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox are slow to support them, so developers have to wait to implement them. In this situation, it is good to know the latest technology, but you must also be aware of current or older standards to develop usable web applications.

Another factor to consider is that non-standard technologies are continuously updated, so there are often multiple versions in use across the internet. Some good examples of older technologies that are still in use today are ASP, CGI scripts and Perl. These three are a small subset, but they demonstrate how older technologies have been used to build robust sites. Let's take a closer look at these examples.

Microsoft ASP
Version 2.0 of the Microsoft .NET Framework was recently released with version 3.0 in the works, but the deprecated ASP technology is still widely used today. I am currently working with two clients with large ASP-based applications. One of my projects for a current client involves maintaining an e-commerce site built with ASP and a PostGres backend. The company has no plans to migrate to ASP.NET or another platform, while the ASP site continues to operate without problems.

There are plenty of sites still using the ASP platform (for example, CertMag.com). Developers who work with ASP need to know VBScript, as well as HTML, COM, and SQL if connecting to a database backend. ASP knowledge may be required to maintain a site or move an existing application to another platform, but it's rare to build a new site from the ground up using ASP.

CGI
The Common Gateway Interface (CGI) was the rage when I began my web development career. CGI is a standard for interfacing external applications with information servers, such as HTTP or web servers. It allows a server-based program to be executed in real-time thus facilitating dynamic content. This type of functionality is commonplace these days, but it all began with CGI, which is still in use today. CGI programs are commonly developed using C or Perl.

For one of my first clients, CGI was used along with Perl to deliver the catalogue via a backend text file (which was easy for the client to update). There are better ways to approach the situation these days, but it was cutting edge at the time and it still works.

Perl
Perl, like CGI, was more popular in the early days of the web. Perl has its roots with system administrators and the Unix operating system, and while it is still a viable development language that continues to evolve, PHP, Java, the .NET Framework, Flash and so forth have emerged to steal the hearts of developers. These days, languages such as Perl and C have returned to their roots, while web-based languages such as PHP have flourished.

Know where you've been
I always laugh when developing applications with newer technologies such as ASP.NET 2.0 because I often tackle a problem by referring to older ways of doing the same thing. It helps you appreciate newer — and often easier — ways to tackle a once difficult task. It can also provide another way to understand a problem, and sometimes you may use the older method in favour of a newer approach.

Knowledge of multiple development environments and systems leads to a more well-rounded developer. In addition, working with older systems while possessing knowledge of new technologies allows you to provide clients with solutions for solving a problem using the latest technology. Full knowledge of both allows you to easily compare and contrast and make a solid case for a recommended technology.

Living in the past
Most developers are gung ho about working with cutting-edge technologies, but they often drag their feet when faced with older technology. This is true with many standards and proprietary products, but developers can easily expand their customer appeal by being familiar with older technology to help potential customers maintain existing applications as well as move to a newer platform. It helps differentiate you from the countless other developers working with the latest technologies.