In modern web programming, scripts are individual sequences of actions created to perform a task automatically. If there is no ready-made script, the user performs these actions manually with the corresponding time consumption and possibility of errors.
To write scripts, special programming languages are used, which are called “scripting languages”. Accordingly, the scripting programming language is a set of lexical, semantic and syntactic rules for creating and editing scripts. The synonymous name “scripting language” is also correct.
Consider, for example, the history of development of the most common scripting language JavaScript. It was with his help realized a lot of solutions for user interaction with sites, programmable features of interactive pages.
Netscape came up with a special language for its then-popular Netscape Navigator 2.0 browser in 1995, called LiveScript. At the time, the language’s capabilities were very sparse, and many people simply didn’t understand what a script was in a browser. At that time, it could check and process the data that the user left on the site page through a form. This validation gave the opportunity to control the correctness of the data entered and avoid sending a form without the necessary information. Soon the name of the language was changed to JavaScript.
Some time later, a famous competitor of Netscape – Microsoft Corporation – created its own version of JavaScript. Despite the fact that this scripting programming language has a slightly different function, it has successfully caught on and got its own name JScript. It began to be used in the Internet Explorer browser since version 3.0. After a while other browsers began to support JavaScript.
Over time, the language has evolved and improved, and now it can successfully solve much more complex tasks. The JavaScript interpreter is a built-in element of all modern browsers.
Despite the fierce competition, Microsoft and Netscape, along with the most respected developers of software for the Internet worked in the organization of the W3C. As a result, were prepared by common standards and recommendations. But all the same JavaScript and JScript languages have certain differences, which should be taken into account.
The purpose of scripts
With the help of scripts performed a huge number of routine operations, such as:
- collecting statistics. Attendance counters, analytical systems – all of them use scripts that calculate the information needed by specialists. Most often such code is written in JS;
- database calls. Communication between the database and the website interface is ongoing, and it is described in scripts, most often in PHP;
- Writing comments and maintaining guest books. Service for adding new comments to the site also runs on scripts in PHP or JavaScript;
- dynamically loading information on the page without updating it. For example, the button “Show more” on the store page. These functions are implemented through AJAX, which is based on JavaScript scripts;
- The dynamic display of elements of the site. Menus, filter pages in the online store and many other elements are automatically generated using scripts.
- Operations for promotion. A huge number of routine manipulations required for SEO and advertising can be automated. To do this, there are special programs and add-ons for CMS, working at the expense of scripts. They can be found on the web or write them yourself.
For example, a web programmer can write a script to automatically fill in the fields when creating a page through a CMS. With his help, you can automate, say, the generation of meta tags or filling the standard pages. So what is a script? It’s a replacement for several hours of content manager’s work.
