Default scripting language in ASP

Concept

Classic ASP (Active Server Pages) is server-side scripting that runs inside the IIS ASP engine, which can host more than one scripting language (VBScript, JScript, PerlScript). When a page does not declare its language with a <%@ Language="..." %> directive, the engine falls back to a configured default scripting language.

Application

In classic ASP this out-of-the-box default is VBScript. So an ASP page that contains script in <% %> blocks without any @Language directive is interpreted as VBScript by default.

Cross-check

• EcmaScript is the standardised core of JavaScript/JScript, not the ASP engine default.

• PERL runs in ASP only as PerlScript, an add-on engine that must be installed and selected explicitly — never the default.

• JavaScript (as JScript) is a supported ASP language but must be requested with the @Language directive; it is not used unless asked for.

Hence the default scripting language in ASP is VBScript.