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IfJavais,infact,yetanothercomputerprogramminglanguage,youmayquestionwhyitissoimportantandwhyitisbeingpromotedasarevolutionarystepincomputerprogramming.Theanswerisn’timmediatelyobviousifyou’recomingfromatraditionalprogrammingperspective.AlthoughJavaisveryusefulforsolvingtraditionalstand-aloneprogrammingproblems,itisalsoimportantbecauseitwillsolveprogrammingproblemsontheWorldWideWeb.
1.Client-sideprogramming
TheWeb’sinitialserver-browserdesignprovidedforinteractivecontent,buttheinteractivitywascompletelyprovidedbytheserver.Theserverproducedstaticpagesfortheclientbrowser,whichwouldsimplyinterpretanddisplaythem.BasicHTMLcontainssimplemechanismsfordatagathering:
text-entryboxes,checkboxes,radioboxes,listsanddrop-downlists,aswellasabuttonthatcanonlybeprogrammedtoresetthedataontheformor“submit”thedataontheformbacktotheserver.ThissubmissionpassesthroughtheCommonGatewayInterface(CGI)providedonallWebservers.ThetextwithinthesubmissiontellsCGIwhattodowithit.Themostcommonactionistorunaprogramlocatedontheserverinadirectorythat’stypicallycalled“cgi-bin.”(IfyouwatchtheaddresswindowatthetopofyourbrowserwhenyoupushabuttononaWebpage,youcansometimessee“cgi-bin”withinallthegobbledygookthere.)Theseprogramscanbewritteninmostlanguages.Perlisacommonchoicebecauseitisdesignedfortextmanipulationandisinterpreted,soitcanbeinstalledonanyserverregardlessofprocessororoperatingsystem.
ManypowerfulWebsitestodayarebuiltstrictlyonCGI,andyoucaninfactdonearlyanythingwithit.However,WebsitesbuiltonCGIprogramscanrapidlybecomeoverlycomplicatedtomaintain,andthereisalsotheproblemofresponsetime.TheresponseofaCGIprogramdependsonhowmuchdatamustbesent,aswellastheloadonboththeserverandtheInternet.(Ontopofthis,startingaCGIprogramtendstobeslow.)TheinitialdesignersoftheWebdidnotforeseehowrapidlythisbandwidthwouldbeexhaustedforthekindsofapplicationspeopledeveloped.Forexample,anysortofdynamicgraphingisnearlyimpossibletoperformwithconsistencybecauseaGIFfilemustbecreatedandmovedfromtheservertotheclientforeachversionofthegraph.Andyou’venodoubthaddirectexperiencewithsomethingassimpleasvalidatingthedataonaninputform.Youpressthesubmitbuttononapage;
thedataisshippedbacktotheserver;
theserverstartsaCGIprogramthatdiscoversanerror,formatsanHTMLpageinformingyouoftheerror,andthensendsthepagebacktoyou;
youmustthenbackupapageandtryagain.Notonlyisthisslow,it’sinelegant.
Thesolutionisclient-sideprogramming.MostmachinesthatrunWebbrowsersarepowerfulenginescapableofdoingvastwork,andwiththeoriginalstaticHTMLapproachtheyaresittingthere,justidlywaitingfortheservertodishupthenextpage.Client-sideprogrammingmeansthattheWebbrowserisharnessedtodowhateverworkitcan,andtheresultfortheuserisamuchspeedierandmoreinteractiveexperienceatyourWebsite.
Theproblemwithdiscussionsofclient-sideprogrammingisthattheyaren’tverydifferentfromdiscussionsofprogrammingingeneral.Theparametersarealmostthesame,buttheplatformisdifferent:
aWebbrowserislikealimitedoperatingsystem.Intheend,youmuststillprogram,andthisaccountsforthedizzyingarrayofproblemsandsolutionsproducedbyclient-sideprogramming.Therestofthissectionprovidesanoverviewoftheissuesandapproachesinclient-sideprogramming.
2.Plug-ins
Oneofthemostsignificantstepsforwardinclient-sideprogrammingisthedevelopmentoftheplug-in.Thisisawayforaprogrammertoaddnewfunctionalitytothebrowserbydownloadingapieceofcodethatplugsitselfintotheappropriatespotinthebrowser.Ittellsthebrowser“fromnowonyoucanperformthisnewactivity.”(Youneedtodownloadtheplug-inonlyonce.)Somefastandpowerfulbehaviorisaddedtobrowsersviaplug-ins,butwritingaplug-inisnotatrivialtask,andisn’tsomethingyou’dwanttodoaspartoftheprocessofbuildingaparticularsite.Thevalueoftheplug-inforclient-sideprogrammingisthatitallowsanexpertprogrammertodevelopanewlanguageandaddthatlanguagetoabrowserwithoutthepermissionofthebrowsermanufacturer.Thus,plug-insprovidea“backdoor”thatallowsthecreationofnewclient-sideprogramminglanguages(althoughnotalllanguagesareimplementedasplug-ins).
3.Scriptinglanguages
Plug-insresultedinanexplosionofscriptinglanguages.Withascriptinglanguageyouembedthesourcecodeforyourclient-sideprogramdirectlyintotheHTMLpage,andtheplug-inthatinterpretsthatlanguageisautomaticallyactivatedwhiletheHTMLpageisbeingdisplayed.Scriptinglanguagestendtobereasonablyeasytounderstandand,becausetheyaresimplytextthatispartofanHTMLpage,theyloadveryquicklyaspartofthesingleserverhitrequiredtoprocurethatpage.Thetrade-offisthatyourcodeisexposedforeveryonetosee(andsteal).Generally,however,youaren’tdoingamazinglysophisticatedthingswithscriptinglanguagessothisisnottoomuchofahardship.
ThispointsoutthatthescriptinglanguagesusedinsideWebbrowsersarereallyintendedtosolvespecifictypesofproblems,primarilythecreationofricherandmoreinteractivegraphicaluserinterfaces(GUIs).However,ascriptinglanguagemightsolve80percentoftheproblemsencounteredinclient-sideprogramming.Yourproblemsmightverywellfitcompletelywithinthat80percent,andsincescriptinglanguagescanalloweasierandfasterdevelopment,youshouldprobablyconsiderascriptinglanguagebeforelookingatamoreinvolvedsolutionsuchasJavaorActiveXprogramming.
ThemostcommonlydiscussedbrowserscriptinglanguagesareJavaScript(whichhasnothingtodowithJava;
it’snamedthatwayjusttograbsomeofJava’smarketingmomentum),VBScript(whichlookslikeVisualBasic),andTcl/Tk,whichcomesfromthepopularcross-platformGUI-buildinglanguage.Thereareothersoutthere,andnodoubtmoreindevelopment.
JavaScriptisprobablythemostcommonlysupported.ItcomesbuiltintobothNetscapeNavigatorandtheMicrosoftInternetExplorer(IE).Inaddition,thereareprobablymoreJavaScriptbooksavailablethantherearefortheotherbrowserlanguages,andsometoolsautomaticallycreatepagesusingJavaScript.However,ifyou’realreadyfluentinVisualBasicorTcl/Tk,you’llbemoreproductiveusingthosescriptinglanguagesratherthanlearninganewone.(You’llhaveyourhandsfulldealingwiththeWebissuesalready.)
4.Java
Ifascriptinglanguagecansolve80percentoftheclient-sideprogrammingproblems,whatabouttheother20percent—the“reallyhardstuff?
”ThemostpopularsolutiontodayisJava.Notonlyisitapowerfulprogramminglanguagebuilttobesecure,cross-platform,andinternational,butJavaisbeingcontinuallyextendedtoprovidelanguagefeaturesandlibrariesthatelegantlyhandleproblemsthataredifficultintraditionalprogramminglanguages,suchasmultithreading,databaseaccess,networkprogramming,anddistributedcomputing.Javaallowsclient-sideprogrammingviatheapplet.
Anappletisamini-programthatwillrunonlyunderaWebbrowser.TheappletisdownloadedautomaticallyaspartofaWebpage(justas,forexample,agraphicisautomaticallydownloaded).Whentheappletisactivateditexecutesaprogram.Thisispartofitsbeauty—itprovidesyouwithawaytoautomaticallydistributetheclientsoftwarefromtheserveratthetimetheuserneedstheclientsoftware,andnosooner.Theusergetsthelatestversionoftheclientsoftwarewithoutfailandwithoutdifficultreinstallation.BecauseofthewayJavaisdesigned,theprogrammerneedstocreateonlyasingleprogram,andthatprogramautomaticallyworkswithallcomputersthathavebrowserswithbuilt-inJavainterpreters.(Thissafelyincludesthevastmajorityofmachines.)SinceJavaisafull-fledgedprogramminglanguage,youcandoasmuchworkaspossibleontheclientbeforeandaftermakingrequestsoftheserver.Forexample,youwon’tneedtosendarequestformacrosstheInternettodiscoverthatyou’vegottenadateorsomeotherparameterwrong,andyourclientcomputercanquicklydotheworkofplottingdatainsteadofwaitingfortheservertomakeaplotandshipagraphicimagebacktoyou.Notonlydoyougettheimmediatewinofspeedandresponsiveness,butthegeneralnetworktrafficandloadonserverscanbereduced,preventingtheentireInternetfromslowingdown.
OneadvantageaJavaapplethasoverascriptedprogramisthatit’sincompiledform,sothesourcecodeisn’tavailabletotheclient.Ontheotherhand,aJavaappletcanbedecompiledwithouttoomuchtrouble,buthidingyourcodeisoftennotanimportantissue.Twootherfactorscanbeimportant.Asyouwillseelaterinthisbook,acompiledJavaappletcancomprisemanymodulesandtakemultipleserver“hits”(accesses)todownload.(InJava1.1andhigherthisisminimizedbyJavaarchives,calledJARfiles,thatallowalltherequiredmodulestobepackagedtogetherandcompressedforasingledownload.)AscriptedprogramwilljustbeintegratedintotheWebpageaspartofitstext(andwillgenerallybesmallerandreduceserverhits).ThiscouldbeimportanttotheresponsivenessofyourWebsite.Anotherfactoristheall-importantlearningcurve.Regardlessofwhatyou’veheard,Javaisnotatriviallanguagetolearn.Ifyou’reaVisualBasicprogrammer,movingtoVBS