PHP and ASP in the same application (???)

A company has an application that was built in ASP/SQL Server which runs on a Windows platform. A new module is being planned. A new programmer is going to build this module (ie. not the programmer who built the original system.)

The new programmer suggests writing the new code in PHP (instead of ASP). He would use ODBC to connect to the SQL Server database. The new programmer prefers open source languages and suggests that the company should keep in mind that with the introduction of ASP.Net you never know if Microsoft will stop supporting ASP down the road.

The question is: is it a good idea to develop the new module in PHP, or should it be written ASP, like the rest of the application. The company is conerned about 2 things: (1) how would a PHP module perform in the Windows environment? and (2) would it become an issue in the future regarding maintaining the system ie. having modules built in different languages?

Though this info is general, any input from anybody who develops web applications and has experience in this area would be appreciated.

Presently, the company is not certain if the module should be developed in PHP or ASP.

firstly i would strongly suggest not using multiple languages in your web site, apart from not being very professional, it would make it hard to operate, esp if the two languages have to talk to eachother.

If your develoeper insists, it is possible, im asuming your using the .asp extension currently. so you will have to tell your server to parse .asp with a php parser. also SHORT TAGS in your php.ini config MUST be turned off, otherwise, it will parse the asp as php.

I'm with Ben on this one. Although it is possible to develop online systems with multiple languages, it can be tedious, especially with maintenance and coding styles.

The short tags Ben mentioned is an important one. Many coders use the short tags (I prefer the long tags myself), and this can cause more harm than good.

Unless your company is willing to port the application over to PHP, I wouldn't recommend having the two running simultaneously.

On another note, having PHP run on a Windows-based system is not a problem. I develop on a Windows XP system, and haven't noticed much difference than when running my applications on a Linux server. If your company is concerned about that, I would assure them there wouldn't be any major concerns.