Client Side Programming
Recall: HTML is good for developing static pages can specify text/image layout, links etc. web page looks the same each time it is accessed
In order to develop interactive or dynamic pages, must integrate programming …
Programs are written in a separate programming language e.g. JavaScript, JScript, VBScript
Programs are embedded in the HTML of a web page, with tags to identify the program component e.g.
<script type="text/javascript"> … </script>Browser executes the program as it loads the page, combining the dynamic output of the program with the static content of HTML
JavaScript: a bit of history
Originally called LiveScript and was introduced in the NetScape browser of 1995
Renamed JavaScript to indicate a marketing relationship with Sun’s Java language
The first scripting language to be supported by web browsers
The most popular web scripting language
Formalised in ECMAScript language standard
JavaScript is/does …
A programming language designed for web pages
Enhances web pages with dynamic features
Small, but sophisticated
Runs on the client side
Case sensitive
JavaScript not/cannot do
- It is not a subset of Java