Re: Server-Side JavaScript? (Was Re: JAVAscript)

by "David Meadows" <david(at)goldenheroes.softnet.co.uk>

 Date:  Sun, 20 Sep 1998 20:11:56 +0100
 To:  "Ryan Fischer" <fischer(at)email.unc.edu>
 Cc:  <hwg-theory(at)hwg.org>
  todo: View Thread, Original
Ryan Fischer <fischer(at)email.unc.edu> wrote:
[quoting me:]
>> I am not fully conversant with Perl, but I don't imagine it
can do
>> anything that server-side ActiveX Scripting cannot also do.
>
>Perl is a much better overall language because of its loose
>structure and leniency.  There are even many different ways
>to call a simple function, as there are many different ways
>to do *anything* you are trying to do. Perl is versatile.
>JavaScript isn't.  It's locked into certain types of syntax.

You miss my point. I will accept that Perl may be "nicer to
use" or "better for the programmer" (which is what you seem to
be saying), but I was talking about functionality. At the end
of the day, both will let you do exactly that same thing (I
think). The fact that Perl will let you do that thing in  a
variety of ways is neither here nor there.

>There are many different ways you can go about
>modifying an HTML document
>generated by a perl script.
[...]
>I know I'm being vague here, but the possibilities are very
great in
>number.

OK, it's not as rigid as I thought then. I thought your only
option was to rewrite the script (which makes for a
maintenance nightmare).

>But... don't you mean ASP (Active Server Pages, for
>those of you who don't know)? I've never heard of
>SSAX before.


Nooo... Microsoft can't stick with the same terminology for
more than 10 minutes ;-)

"ActiveX Scripts" are written in any script languages that can
run in the Microsoft ActiveX script host. This includes
VBScript, JScript, and any other language that Microsoft feel
like supporting today. In fact, they go out of their way to
brag about how compliant 3rd party scripting languages can be
used in an ActiveX environment.

Because Netscape's JavaScript can run in the ActiveX scripting
host, JavaScript becomes a "subset" of Microsoft's ActiveX
Scripting! Does this strike anyone else as hilariously funny?

So, ActiveX scripts run in a browser or on a server. When they
run on a server, they can call the Internet Services
Applications Programming Interface (ISAPI), or they can call
distributed ActiveX objects (DCOM), or they can call ActiveX
Data objects (ADO) or they can access databases through open
database connectivity (ODBC) and basically when you put it all
together you get an active server page (ASP) to send to the
client [you want acronyms? I got acronyms!].

Anyway, that's how I *think* it works.


--
David Meadows [ Technical Writer | Information Developer ]
DNRC Minister for Littorasy * david(at)goldenheroes.softnet.co.uk
"Mind, body, heart and soul: we've got rock and roll
 And there's nothing they can do" -- Ian Gillan, "Gypsy's
Kiss"

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