Active Server Pages is a newer programming language designed to run active content on the server and then display the result on the viewer's browser. It is used extensively for such tasks as managing and querying on-line databases and building intuitive forms. Unlike JavaScript, which downloads the actual code into your browser and then activates, ASP pages run strictly on the server. The user triggers a request from the web page, the ASP processes it, and then sends back the requested info in purely HTML format- i.e. no actual ASP coding leaves the server and it is protected from being plagiarized.