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If you want to build
a dynamic website which has the ability to
communicate with databases and servers to ensure
that it is both functional and efficient, then you
will need to have knowledge of a programming
language to ensure that these tasks can be easily
achieved; there are many different programming
languages, each of which have been designed for use
in specific server environments, and although most
possess more or less the same basic features at
heart, some do contain more advanced and complicated
features that others may not have.
When choosing a
programming language to learn, you should always
consider how easy it will be to learn and ask others
who have a good deal of knowledge about the language
you are wanting to learn just how long it took them
to learn it, and how easy they find it to use within
a complicated server environment; you should also
take into consideration the server environment in
which the code that you produce will be hosted - for
example you don’t want to go and learn a language
which you then can’t use effectively since it hasn’t
been designed to work in a server environment such
as the one which you want to host it in. You should
also take into consideration the external factors of
a programming language which can affect your ability
to code in it as well as the dynamic functionality
that it is able to achieve; for example you should
always consider the external database programs that
you are able to use with your chosen programming
language - this is because some database programs
might not be able to function in the same
environment as that in which the programming
language that you have chosen to use does, this
means that you should consider a database program
that it is able to function with both the
programming language that you have chosen to use as
well as within the same environment as that in which
the programming language that you have chosen to
learn. Other factors you should consider when
choosing a programming language to learn is the
amount of support that is available for it; this is
because if you are new to programming then you might
need some support to help send you in the right
direction if you happen to come across a problem or
are unable to figure something out when you are in
the middle of learning that language that you have
chosen to learn. If you are new to programming, and
have not learnt any server side scripting language
previously, then you will open your website to a
whole new set of opportunities which you most likely
did not know about previously; this is because with
the use of a server side scripting language, you can
allow the pages of your website to interact with the
server and also configure your pages to work with a
database which means that your visitors can have
much more interaction with your website if you use
these opportunities to add new features to your
website such as a password protected area or a forum
where people can discuss certain topics with each
other.
Features
You should always consider the features that a
programming language has when you are looking to
learning a language to aid you in the process of a
building a dynamic server side script based website;
this is because that although more or less every
server side scripting language has the core features
such as interaction with databases and the server,
the more advanced features can settings can easily
differ from language to language meaning that some
are better suited to one use than another might be.
Some languages are starting to incorporate new
features that will help them stay up to date with
the latest internet trends as they start to grow;
for example Microsoft has started to release an AJAX
toolkit for its ASP.NET server side scripting
language to ensure that developers who use the
language for their websites are able to keep their
websites up to date in terms of the technology which
is used to enable their scripts and web pages to
interact with the server on which they are hosted.
Most programming languages are able to work with a
wide range of database programs which means that you
are given a selection of database programs meaning
that you can choose one which suits your
requirements perfectly, both in terms of
specification and the languages that it is able to
function with; with the use of a database and a
dynamic server side scripting language, you are able
to store data which can be accessed by any dynamic
script or web page which as the necessary database
login details - this means that you could setup a
private area on your website which requires a user
name and password to gain access, or you could build
a content management system to base your website on
which will store all the content for your website in
a centralized database. Another thing that should
you take into consideration is the libraries that
are available for the scripting language which you
wish to learn; libraries are normally ‘add-ons’ for
scripting languages that allow you to expand the
capability of the programming language that you have
chosen to learn since they are normally made for one
purpose which expands on an existing function of the
scripting language, or adds a completely new set of
functions entirely. You should also consider the
operating environment in which the programming
language has been designed to run; for example PHP
has been designed to allow it to run in both Linux
and Windows environments, which means that you can
easily install the necessary files in both operating
systems to ensure that it can run effectively - on
the other hand, ASP.NET has been designed by
Microsoft which means that it can only be run on a
server which is running Microsoft Windows Server.
You should also consider the language’s ability to
run alongside other web pages which have been
written in different programming languages; for
example PHP pages might interfere with the running
of ASP.NET scripts and pages within the context of a
Windows based web hosting environment.
Environment
One of the main factors that you should consider
when choosing a programming language to learn is the
environment for which the language you have chosen
is able to operate in; this is because some
programming languages have been written to allow
them to run in a certain operating system only,
meaning that you have to be using that operating
system in order for you to be able to host and view
the files that you have written in the dynamic
server side scripting language concerned. For
example, if you want others on the internet to be
able to view the files or web pages that you have
written in either the classic ASP or ASP.NET
programming languages, you have to be running a
server or computer which has either Microsoft
Windows Server installed on it, or Microsoft Windows
XP Professional - although it is recommended that
you use Windows XP Professional to view server side
scripts if you are wanting to test them, since it
isn’t as suited to the position as Windows Server
is; this is because that Microsoft has designed both
programming languages to be run on Microsoft
operating systems only and to only be executed
through Microsoft’s web server, IIS (Internet
Information Services) - this means that you might
have to fork out extra for Windows based web hosting
in order for you to have the ability to execute and
view the classic ASP and ASP.NET web pages and
scripts that you have written. On the other hand,
programming language such as Ruby on Rails (RoR) and
PHP will run on most operating systems, and are open
source meaning that they are free; the fact that
they are open source means that you can pick up a
cheap cPanel and Linux based website hosting account
that in most cases should have the ability to run
Ruby and PHP based website applications. Although
ASP.NET and classic ASP are both free to use
programming languages, they are still classed as
commercial since the running of them is only
possible through the purchase of a Windows Server
license, this means that their cores cannot be
accessed by the likes of you and me which means that
the cores can’t be customized to the way that we
want them in order to make the engines behind both
languages run more efficiently and faster; however,
the source code for both Ruby and PHP can be
downloaded which means that any developer with a
sufficient amount of knowledge can easily modify the
source to the way that they want it to be and then
rebuild for use within their own server environment.
Other environmental factors for the running of the
programming language that you have chosen to learn
can include the necessary file permissions which
might be required to ensure that the language which
you have chosen to learn can run effectively without
any problem, which is a must when you are wanting to
use the language within your own dedicated server
environment; if the correct file permissions are not
set then the core of the language might be
restricted from accessing the resources that it
needs to ensure that it can run effectively and
fast.
Support
If you are new to the world of server side
programming languages, then you should always take
into consideration the support that is available to
you if you find that you need help with a certain
feature of the programming language that you have
chosen to use; this is important because the best
known languages have many forums that are dedicated
to them which should more than meet your needs, but
on the other hand the lesser known languages don’t
have such a good amount of support available for
them - or the case may be that there is enough
support available for them, but the support just
isn’t informative enough which isn’t what you need
when you’re starting out with something new. For
example, Microsoft’s ASP.NET language may be a
commercial one, but the company itself doesn’t
provide any official support past the regular
documentation that you should be able to find with
any programming language that you want to learn,
especially the best ones; in this case you should be
able to rely on internet based communities to help
you out in the learning process, since these
communities are normally full of many knowledgable
members who can give you tips on how best to learn
the language as well, since everyone had to learn
the language at some point in their development
career. You will never find any source of official
support for any open source scripting languages
beyond the documentation that you should be able to
find for almost any scripting language, regardless
of whether you choose to learn it or not since
everyone needs some sort of official source which
they can refer back to; however, you should be able
to find more internet based communities which can
help you out with the language that you would for an
commercial server side scripting language, this is
because that people are able to view the source code
of the actual language which in turn means that they
should be able to tell you exactly what to do if you
happen to run into a problem with the language that
you have chosen to learn. If this is your first time
learning a programming language, then it is
important that you try and learn a language which
has lots of support available to you; this is
because it is inevitable that you will get stuck
during the learning process at some stage or another
since programming languages are very complicated
things to learn. One thing to note is that the
documentation that is provided by the makers of the
scripting languages for their products are in most
cases very complicated; this means that you should
try and gain a good amount of knowledge before
attempting to read one of the documentation manuals
since you should then be able to solve your problem
much more efficiently, and at the same time will be
gaining knowledge on the language which you have
chosen to learn. If you gain a good amount of
knowledge of your chosen language, you might end up
becoming a programmer - which in most cases is
highly paid job because of the skill that is
involved.
Commercial and Open Source
Commercial programming languages are ones which
require you to purchase something in order for you
to have the ability to run them so that visitors to
your website are able to view the finished article,
and so that the server which is hosted the script or
web page concerned is able to process the file in a
correct manner so that it can output it to the
visitor’s browser in the correct format. Commercial
languages are generally made for use on one
operating system only, which restricts you from how
and where you are able to use your skills if you
choose to learn a commercial server side scripting
language; an example of a commercial server side
scripting language would be Microsoft’s ASP.NET,
this is because you can only use it under
Microsoft’s web server, IIS, which itself will only
run on a Microsoft operating system such as Windows
XP Professional or Windows Server 2003 - their more
modern counterparts being Windows Vista Business and
Ultimate, as well as Windows Server 2008. On the
other hand, open source programming languages
generally allow you to run them on any operating
system, which means that you are able to apply your
knowledge and skills across a wide range of
operating systems if you do choose to learn and open
source server side scripting/programming language;
you can also expand open source scripting languages
more easily than their commercial counter parts,
this is because many developers have spent their
time developing free add-ons for the open source
languages to help make them much more feature
filled, and in tun allowing people who develop using
them to build more feature filled and efficient web
based applications and websites. You will also find
that the support for open source programming
languages is much greater than that of commercial
programming languages; the main reason for this is
that people and developers tend to go more with open
source languages for the simple reason that they are
free, and because there is a large number of
experienced developers who decide to use open source
languages, there is a large amount of people who are
willing to help out those who are new to the world
of server side programming. The amount of support
that is available for commercial server side
programming languages is very little when compare to
that which is available for open source languages;
this is because that most developers don’t have the
money to invest in the needed technologies to ensure
that their scripts and web pages, which means that
they normally take up open source programming
languages because of the fact that there is little
to no cost of getting started with these - you will
also find that larger corporations with money will
be utilizing commercial scripting languages, and
they will be unwilling to provide any outsiders with
any sense of support if they have just started out
with a new programming language - if you do want to
start with a commercial programming language then
you should try and pick up a cheap book from your
nearest book store.
Conclusion
In conclusion, if you are new to the world of
developing with server side scripting languages then
you should take up an open source programming
language to learn since there are far more helpful
resources available for you than there are with
commercial programming languages; this means that
you might find it easier to learn your chosen
language, and might even be able to get your dynamic
website built much quicker than you would with a
commercial programming language which has far less
resources available regarding information about it.
If you start coding in a language, and you fill that
your set up might need expanding so that you are
able to use many more functions when you code, then
you should choose an open source language to learn
since you can easily expand these through the use of
freely available function libraries which are in
most cases open source as well; this means that if
you want to expand the interactivity that your
website is able to have with the server on which it
is hosted, then you can by simply expanding the base
of the language in which you are coding with some
simple yet effective function libraries. If you do
choose to code in a commercial scripting language,
then you might find yourself paying high web hosting
costs since the cost of the software which is
required to enable commercial scripting languages to
run is high, and web hosts have to past the costs on
to customers; you might also find yourself paying
large amounts of money for resources such as books
to aid you in the development process because there
is a lack of online resources - if you were to code
using an open source language then you would be able
to use the vast range of free online resources to
help you, and would not have to pay large amount of
money for thick and complicated and in some cases
almost useless books. With the use of this article,
you should have been able to discover the power that
programming languages have, and how the use of them
can help boost your website in terms of how you
manage it, and how much interactivity your visitors
are able to have with it since you can use the
features of programming languages to help add more
features to your website. Also, with the use of a
programming language, you might be able to get a job
in IT since programmers are very skilled people, and
positions for them normally accompany high salaries.
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