On Mon, 19 Jun 2000, Greg Kettmann wrote:
> I'm rather confused by the various advanced or "active" web page
> methods.
Such is usually called "dynamic" content, i.e., stuff generated "on the fly"
in response to client requests. As opposed to "static" content, i.e., plain
old files stored on disk and simply blasted to the client when needed.
> Let's see, there's CGI, Perl, Visual Basic Scripts, JavaScripts and Java,
> ASP (Active Server Pages), PHP and XML.
There are as many options for web content generation as their are grains of
sand on the beach. Close to it, anyway. Trying to list them all is rather
futile. :-)
> Now these are all just scripting languages, right?
No. :)
Some are script languages. (Perl, VB, JavaScript, PHP)
Some are frameworks to support execution of programs that generate web
content. (CGI, ASP) Those programs may be scripts.
XML is a mark-up language, similar to HTML, for describing the type and
relations of arbitrary data.
Java is a language (like C), a compiler for same, an architecture
specification (like i386), a virtual machine implementation of same, and a set
of runtime libraries and interfaces, all caught up in the politics of
inter-corporate warfare.
> Some are interpretive (Basic, JavaScript-? (or is it run from the JVM?).
VBScript and JavaScript are interpreted at runtime, yes.
It is important to note that, other then some syntactical similarities and a
lot of marketing, Java and JavaScript have nothing to do with each other.
JavaScript was originally called "LiveScript", and was simply Netscape's very
own scripting language. Then Sun and Netscape noticed how similar LiveScript
was to Java, and decided to make that a feature. Things have progressed from
there.
> ... ASP and PHP, which I believe are server side implementations ...
Yes, although slightly different in concept.
ASP is a framework for execution of server-side programs, such as VBScripts.
PHP is a server-side scripting language designed to be embedded in HTML.
> [ASP and PHP] require a special code server to which they interface
> (meaning they interface a daemon which provides their functionality).
More or less correct, although both are usually statically or dynamically
linked into the web server process itself.
> Is this right, or am I all wet?
You seem to be heading in more or less the right direction... :-)
> What is the difference between PHP and ASP?
PHP is a script language, vaguely similar to Perl, designed to be embedded
in HTML code. A PHP-enabled web server parses the HTML, discovers the PHP
code, interprets that, doing whatever it says to do, and feeds the end result
to the web client (browser) just like any other web page.
I'll echo the other poster who recommended the PHP homepage. Very good
stuff, and a neat site in general terms.
ASP is a framework for supporting languages like PHP. An ASP-enabled web
server parses the HTML, discovers ASP embeds, passes off the embedded script
to whatever is defined to handle it, and feeds the end result to the web
client. Popular ASP script languages include VBScript, JavaScript and Perl.
You can, in fact, mix all three together, if you want.
ASP is actually one of the better ideas to come out of Redmond, not that
that is saying much. As usual, their implementation (IIS) sucks, but I think
the general idea is workable.
> I thought ASP was an M$ thing, is it or is it open?
ASP was originally and is still largely a Microsoft technology. However,
third-party implementations of ASP have sprung up.
Note that MS ASP is Microsoft Active Server Pages. You also see ASP
expanded to "Application Service Provider", which is a company providing
web-based application services and/or hosting. For example, Yahoo! providers
a number of calendaring and similar applications via the web. To make things
even more confusing, ASP applications are often implemented using MS-ASP
pages.
> Why are there so many?
Why are there so many of anything? :-)
> Is the number of ?languages? increasing or decreasing?
Increasing, I would say, as old languages are never "un-created". Now, as
for the number of languages *in use*, well, that's a harder question to
answer. :)
> Which are the most used?
MS-ASP and Perl, I think, are the most popular. PHP and ColdFusion (a
commercial package) have a good following, too.
--
Ben Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Net Technologies, Inc. <http://www.ntisys.com>
Voice: (800)905-3049 x18 Fax: (978)499-7839
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