Active Server Pages (ASP) is a server side scripting language that lets a webmaster transform the plain, static web site into a dazzling, dynamic solution. With Microsoft's server side scripting language you can gather data from your site's visitors, use sessions, cookies, application variables, and more. Don't worry if you don't know what all of those terms mean because you will soon be learning all about them.
While ASP is quite useful, it is not a stand alone solution. Rather, ASP is a supplement to HTML (and CSS and even Javascript) and your final ASP code will often contain bits of pieces of code that are not ASP. If you had ever wanted to take orders, gather emails, or make a decent guestbook, ASP will provide you the necessary tools to complete these tasks.
Before you start in on Tizag's ASP Tutorial, it is recommended that you have a strong grasp of HTML, as this tutorial will not explain the HTML code in any great depth. If your HTML knowledge could use a touchup, check out our HTML Tutorial or for the complete HTML Beginner: First Web Site Walkthrough.
This ASP Tutorial is quite long, so do not try to take it on all at once. We find that reading a couple lessons at one sitting and then giving yourself time to reflect on what you learned really helps to understand the subject better. Good luck!