How does web site programming work?
Basically, you will embed code within your normal HTML pages. Something like this:
<html>
<head>
<title>My Web Page</title>
</head>
<body>
<?php
print date("Y/m/d");
?>
</body>
</html>
When you access your page with a browser, your web server will parse, or read through, your HTML page line by line and when it comes across a programming language, it will execute the code. In this case, it writes out the current date on the page and then sends the page back to your web browser. Your web browser just sees a normal web page with a date but the server will generate a different web page when it is loaded on a different date. Dynamic!
What is web programming good for?
Web site programming allows you to turn a simple, static HTML page into a dynamic, Web 2.0 masterpiece. It allows others to interact with your web site and use the application on any computer with Internet access. Web site programming is often easier than programming applications that will run directly on the computer.
Essentially, if you want to make or edit anything dynamic on your website, such as a forum, a guestbook, or even a form submission, you will need to know how to do some web site programming.
What are web programming languages?
All web programming is done with web programming languages. These languages can include static technologies like HTML, XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, and XML. However, most web site programming is done using server-side web programming languages. This code runs on the server and then gives static information back to the web browser. The most popular web programming languages are: PHP, ASP.NET, Ruby on Rails, Perl, ASP classic, Python, and JSP. To learn more about a particular web programming language, select the language below:
