Programming Languages

Client Side

Server Side

JSML

Java and JavaBeans

Visual J#.NET

VBScript

JavaScript

JScript

ECMAScript

Perl

PerlScript

C and C++

Visual C#.NET

Java and JavaBeans

Visual J#.NET

PHP

Visual Basic

Visual Basic.NET

VBScript

JavaScript

JScript

ECMAScript

Brief Descriptions

JSML

Java Speech API Markup Language is a text format used by applications to annotate text input to speech synthesizers. JSML elements provide a speech synthesizer with detailed information on how to speak text and thus enable improvements in the quality, naturalness and understandability of synthesized speech output. JSML defines elements that describe the structure of a document, provide pronunciations of words and phrases, indicate phrasing, emphasis, pitch and speaking rate, and control other important speech characteristics. JSML is designed to be simple to learn and use, to be portable across different synthesizers and computing platforms, and to applicable to a wide range of languages.

Java and JavaBeans

JavaBeans is a portable, platform-independent component model written in the Java programming language, developed in collaboration with industry leaders. It enables developers to write reusable components once and run them anywhere -- benefiting from the platform-independent power of Java technology. JavaBeans acts as a Bridge between proprietary component models and provides a seamless and powerful means for developers to build components that run in ActiveX container applications.

JavaScript

  • JavaScript was designed to add interactivity to HTML pages
  • JavaScript is a scripting language (a scripting language is a lightweight programming language)
  • A JavaScript consists of lines of executable computer code
  • A JavaScript is usually embedded directly into HTML pages
  • JavaScript is an interpreted language (means that scripts execute without preliminary compilation)
  • Everyone can use JavaScript without purchasing a license

Perl

Perl, (also backronymed as Practical Extraction and Report Language) is an interpreted procedural programming language designed by Larry Wall. Perl has a unique set of features, some borrowed from C, others from shell scripting (sh), awk, sed, and (to a lesser extent) many other programming languages (even Lisp).

Visual C#.NET

C# (see section on naming, pronunciation) is an object-oriented programming language developed by Microsoft as part of their .NET initiative. Microsoft based C# on C++ and Java. C# was designed as a language that would provide syntax that would be comfortable for C++ and Java programmers, with rapid development functionality that would suit Visual Basic and Delphi programmers.

Visual Basic and Visual Basic.NET

Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET) is an object-oriented computer language that can be viewed as an evolution of Microsoft's Visual Basic (VB) implemented on the Microsoft .NET framework. Its introduction has been controversial, as significant changes were made that broke backward compatibility with VB and caused a rift within the developer community that may or may not be resolved with the introduction of Visual Studio 2005.

JScript

JScript is the Microsoft implementation of the ECMA 262 language specification (ECMAScript Edition 3). With only a few minor exceptions (to maintain backwards compatibility), JScript is a full implementation of the ECMA standard.

ECMAScript

JScript .NET incorporates almost all of the features of the ECMAScript Edition 3 Language Specification. In addition, JScript .NET is being developed in conjunction with ECMAScript Edition 4 and incorporates many of the proposed features of that language as well. The tables below list the features of ECMAScript 3 and the proposed ECMAScript 4 features that JScript .NET supports.

VBScript

Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition brings active scripting to a wide variety of environments, including Web client scripting in Microsoft Internet Explorer and Web server scripting in Microsoft Internet Information Service.

PHP

  • PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
  • PHP is a server-side scripting language, like ASP
  • PHP scripts are executed on the server
  • PHP supports many databases (MySQL, Informix, Oracle, Sybase, Solid, PostgreSQL, Generic ODBC, etc.)
  • PHP is an open source software (OSS)
  • PHP is free to download and use

Visual J#.NET

The J# (pronounced Jay Sharp) programming language is a transitional language for programmers of Sun's Java and Microsoft's J++ languages, so they may use their existing knowledge, and applications on Microsoft's .NET platform. J# can work with java bytecode as well as source so it can be used to transition applications that use third party libs even if their original source is unavailable.

C and C++

Visual C++ (also known as MSVC) is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) product for the C and C++ programming languages engineered by Microsoft. It has tools for developing and debugging C++ code, especially that written for the Microsoft Windows API, the DirectX API, and the Microsoft .NET Framework.

JavaScript

JavaScript is an object-based scripting programming language based on the concept of prototypes. The language is best known for its use in websites, but is also used to enable scripting access to objects embedded in other applications. It was originally developed by Brendan Eich of Netscape Communications Corporation under the name Mocha, then LiveScript, and finally renamed to JavaScript. Like Java, JavaScript has a C-like syntax, but it has far more in common with the Self programming language than with Java.

Terms

Compiled

Not Compiled

JSML
Java and JavaBeans
JavaScript
C and C++
VBScript
Visual Basic
Visual Basic.NET
PHP
Visual J#.NET
Visual C#.NET

Perl
PerlScript
JScript
ECMAScript

Object-Oriented

Structured

Perl
PerlScript
Java and JavaBeans
JavaScript
C and C++
Visual Basic
Visual Basic.NET
VBScript
PHP

JSML
Visual J#.NET
JScript
ECMAScript
Visual C#.NET

Why Use Programming?

There are 2 basic reasons for using Programming in Web Development. 1) to enable the browser to customize a Web Page based on user activity or the computer environment and 2) to enable a Web server to customize a Web page for a specific browser request.

As Developer.com puts it "Anyone who has designed web sites for any length of time knows the limitations of html and other client side languages like CSS and JavaScript. While these languages remain at the core of web development, their primary function is to control how text and graphics are presented. Because they lack the ability to manipulate information on demand, or communicate with web servers, the result is a static web page. "

The use of programming languages enables the web developer to add functions not available in HTML and produces more vibrant sites then plain site would hold.

Resources

DMOZ Open Directory

Microsoft W3School Wikipedia

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