Is Javascript Still Very Popular In Website Design?

[thedealmaker]

Hi,
I want to design a website that needs database. I read "Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, Second Edition", and it suggests that Javascipt should not be used that much but to reduce database processing. But when I look at the source of eBay and Google, there are full of Javascript. eBay use quite a lot of PHP and Javascript, but Google uses a lot of Javascript but doesn't seem to use PHP at all(not sure because I just checked the first couple pages).

So how important is Javascipt in today's website design?

What Other Languages Are Essential In Web Design?

Many thanks.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

You can make a pretty complete site without any javascript, or you can use javascript to do tons of stuff. The ajax movement is taking off, which is heavy on javascript. Personally I tend to only use little bits and pieces here and there.

p.s. you realize you wouldn't see php in the source of a webpage right?

 

[bofkentucky]

Javascript isn't very useful on the server side, but it is nearly essential on the client side. Languages like Perl/PHP/Python/Ruby/Java/VB.net/C# are server side langauges that do the heavy lifting of mainatining state/sessions, database transactions, content management, and pulling and integrating remote data into your site. Javascript (and its dumber little brother VBScript) can do useful things such as image rollovers, window management, DHTML effects, and form validation. Both sides are important when used correctly, but when they get crossed (Netscape Web Server's server-side javascript extensions, VB activeX client aps, java applets) can be portablity and mainataince nightmares, not to mention security holes (ActiveX and Java applets) .

If you are going to be on Unix/Apache, knowing javascript, XHTML, XSL, PHP, and Perl and your database of choice will serve you well
If you are going to use a java server solution (Websphere, Tomcat) Java (JSP and/or servlets), XHTML, XSL, javascript and your DB of choice
Windows/IIS learn VB.net and/or C#, javascript, XHTML, XSL, and MSSQL and/or Access

I'm a big beliver in LAMP (linux (or unix), apache, mysql (and postgress), and perl, (and python and php), check out onlamp.com for their info about this cheap and powerful platform.

 

[cubby1223]

You could do the whole application without Javascript, but it's not going to be very user friendly.

Or you could do almost all the application with Javascript, but it's not going to be very secure.

For a good and secure application you are going to use both client & server scripting. Javascript is the only option for client side scripting.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
p.s. you realize you wouldn't see php in the source of a webpage right?

Exactly. Same with Perl, ASP, C/C++, etc., for all of these the code runs on the server and you never get to see the server code. All that you see in your browser is the HTML and client-side script code that the server code generated to send.

eBay was using C++ ISAPI code way back in 2000 when I did some consulting for Invenna (a dot-gone that had a Windows eBay auction manager), but I have no idea what they're using now.

 

[Red and black]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

eBay was using C++ ISAPI code way back in 2000 when I did some consulting for Invenna (a dot-gone that had a Windows eBay auction manager), but I have no idea what they're using now.

Their URLs look like it's still the massive ISAPI plugin:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=5202057210&Category=154

( link taken at random from front page )

I have heard that the DLL has grown to be absolutely monstrous, and take forever to build.

 

[thedealmaker]

what are Google and eBay are using now? Certainly Javascript and html. But what else can you see when you scan through their code?

I am just surprised that Google uses Javascript because when I look at their search engine website, their site seems to be static pages.

 

[bofkentucky]

Yahoo has lots of PHP on their backend, I would gamble google is C and perl based on some job postings I've seen but you can never be sure. Ebay appears to use lots of MS visual c++

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: thedealmaker

I am just surprised that Google uses Javascript because when I look at their search engine website, their site seems to be static pages.

That's strange, because when I view google's html, I see tons of verrrrry long lines of html, i.e. ones generated by code, not humans. And "static" generally means that there is no server-side processing, which is totally unrelated to javascript.

 

[thedealmaker]

I am looking for someone to host the webserver and the database for me. Do you know of some good and cheap places to do that? I don't plan to host them myself.

Usually, how much is it per month with regular bandwidth to host a small-medium size website with database?

 

[jkoon]

Originally posted by: thedealmaker
I am looking for someone to host the webserver and the database for me. Do you know of some good and cheap places to do that? I don't plan to host them myself.

Usually, how much is it per month with regular bandwidth to host a small-medium size website with database?

I use vizaweb.com, check them out.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

I use quadrahosting.com, they're great.

 

[jkoon]

Actually I think I read somewhere that google is mostly written in python.

But I know they also have their own OS for their servers.