Posted by cwdjrxyz on 01/25/06 06:20

John Salerno wrote:
> Pardon my ignorance, but whenever I think of JavaScript I can't help but
> think of it as being something that's old and slowing going out of
> style. Is this unfounded? Is JS still the main scripting language used
> in web pages, or are others preferred? I know PHP and/or ASP.NET is
> popular, but do they do the same things?
>
> Thanks, and sorry that my question isn't exactly HTML-centric, but I
> figured since I'm learning HTML/CSS right now, I only want to ask this
> question in a group that focuses on those languages, and not a
> full-blown scripting group, which would be over my head.

The several other responses that you received appear correct.

Javascript and close relatives have been around quite a while. Back
during the browser war era they could be a royal pain to write to work
on most browsers. You sometimes had to write 3 different paths for IE4
type browsers, Netscape 4 browsers, and then Netscape 6 browsers. For
example one path might use document.all, another document.layers, and
the third document.getElementById. Fortunately most of the browsers of
this era are now history, and you usually can get along with standard
script for new pages now. You will still see a few older scripts with
all 3 paths around. The browser wars have faded quite a bit, and have
been replaced by a much larger monster - the media format wars.

Although javascript on the client side and various languages on the
server side can often be made to do the same things, this is not always
the case. The server can not know everything a browser can do and what
all of the settings for it are, so scripts involving some things have
to be done on the browser after the download from the server is
complete.

There are many languages you can use on the server if you have full
access to it and know how to use the various languages. Using PHP
perhaps is most easy for people coming from a PC background, and Perl
has many applications. JAVA takes a little more time to learn, but it
can be very powerful for many applications. Also popular computing
languages such as C++, Fortran, and several others have been used on
the server side. These require rather extensive libraries of code to be
installed on the server. As one example, there are very elaborate
programs for math calculations that you can buy for a very high price
and put on your computer. However some of these have versions written
in higher level languages to be put on a server. That would allow
anyone visiting your site to use the math program. I suspect that if
you have to ask the price for these server side math programs, you
likely can not afford them. Another thing to consider is that extensive
server side programs can sometimes use a high percentage of the server
resources. That is your problem if you own the server. However if you
rent server space from a host that allows server side programs, you had
best look at the fine print in your agreement with the host. Mine says
than any user can not use over a certain percentage of the computer
resources at any time. If you do, you will be shut down until you
correct the problem, get a large bill, or both.

Some applications of javascript, such as DHTML used to move things
around, do not seem to be used as much now as a few years. I suspect
that many now find making a flash movie a quicker and more powerful way
to make those ads with much action.

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