Survey Application

I've been asked to create a web-based service that essentially conducts a survey of a small group and reports simple statistical information. As the stats are based on a group of surveys, I will need some sort of database. Although I am fairly experienced in C/C++ coding, I've never done any sort of web development. I would like to learn all of the most powerful tools and languages, but, to start, I need to learn what will be necessary to complete this project.

So my question is this: what language/combination of languages would you suggest I use? The survey would be quite simple, consisting only of a series of questions, each with the conventional user input controls (radio boxes, check boxes, text entry, etc.) I plan to code the statistic calculation myself, and the language I use for this portion won't really need anything beyond simple arithmetic functions and looping. Would ASP suffice? (I've heard it is relatively simple and efficient.) Will I need to use something more complex, perhaps Java, for the statistical calculations?

In addition, I'm thinking about how to represent the database. The survey would not be extraordinarily long, and it would be administered to about 200 people at once. I guess the type of database I would use depends on the language(s) I choose, but I was thinking of a simple collection of text files with a standard naming convention. Like I said, I've never designed anything in this area, so I don't know the downside to this method nor am I aware of the alternatives. Any suggestions?

I know my questions are a little basic, but I hope someone can help me get started. Thanks a lot in advance.

If you are good with C/C++, why not try out .NET and C#? You might feel more at home using ASP.NET with C# underneath for all the hardcore programming. That way you can sort  of recycle some of your existing skills. .NET also forces better programming techniques than traditional ASP/VBScript ask for. You should feel more at home there.

As for the database, if you can, SQL Server is much nicer, but you can just as easily do it with Access. If you've never done any database programming, Access is easier to work with for beginners, but by the same token you could use an ERD program like ErWin or DeZign (which I use).

I would suggest staying away from flat file databases as you are going to have massive performance penalties from that. As long as you use a relational database like Oracle or SQL Server (Sybase or MS) or an object oriented database, you'll get much better speed. And you won't have to much around with all the logic for them as that is as simple as writing a few SQL statements. Basic SQL takes about 2 hours to learn.

My suggesstion - ASP.NET with C# and MS SQL Server. Tons of resources for all of them. A good place to start for the programming language is http://asp.net.

Cheers

 

The 'complexity' kicks in when the survey author has the option of selecting a question type. What I mean by this is that they may want a simple single line text <INPUT>, or a multiline text <TEXTAREA>, or  a drop-down <SELECT> (single/multi selection), or a group of radio buttons, etc.

Ok, so it's not that bad - I just need to put my thinking hat on, sit back and figure it out when/if I get a spare few hours.

Oh, and the other thing - it has to be based on an Ingres db !!! Ingres, who has used (let alone heard of) Ingres !!!