Every website has code. HTML code is the backbone of the Web, but for more advanced features on a website and especially for web applications, you need a good scripting language. Here are a few, some basic, some more complex that are free for Linux servers:
Javascript – Built into web browsers, this is a client-side language. The down side is that end users might disable it or not have it fully supported.
Perl – Old, reliable, and trusted, Perl comes with many Linux distributions, but it is not the easiest to setup and maintain.
PHP – Like Perl, it is a server-side language and has become increasingly popular. It can be run inside of Apache or as its own executable.
Python – Many programmers prefer Python for more advanced applications, although it does not dominate the Web.
JSP – Normally Java apps run on the client side, but with an Apache Tomcat HTTP server, you can have Java Server Pages (JSP).
In a future post, we will learn how to setup each on a dedicated server.
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