Creating Dynamic Web Pages

A person who is developing new content, creating or modifying an HTML document, or uploading typically updates a Web page. This process can also happen dynamically when code is written that connects to a database and inserts the information into the HTML document. Applications for generating dynamic Web pages include e-commerce sites, customizable sites, and data entry and retrieval systems that run over the Internet. Different software, hardware, and infrastructure companies use different solutions for building dynamic Web content. Some solutions include the following:

• Active Server Pages: Active Server Pages (ASPs) are Microsoft's version of dynamic Web page generation. VBScript is the default scripting language used in ASPs. The following is required:
  
  1. Windows server running Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) 5.1 or higher
  2. Sun Solaris or IBM AIX server running Chili!Soft ASP
• JavaServer Pages: JavaServer Pages are Sun's implementation for creating Web pages that display dynamic content.
  JavaServer Pages: Sun's implementation for creating Web pages that display dynamic content. Sun Microsystems was acquired by Oracle on January 27, 2010.
• Servlets A servlet^[1] is a small application that runs on an Internet server. They are typically Java- and Perl-based alternatives to CGI^[2] scripts. Java servlets offer persistence over CGI. The term "servlet" typically describes a server-side Java application, however, the term is not Java-specific.
• PHP: PHP (Personal Home Page), from the German Hypertext Preprocessor, is a specialized scripting language used to extract data from a database and present it on a Web page. PHP code is embedded within HTML pages and is executed on the server. PHP runs in the Linux operating system environment on Apache servers.

Modern scripting languages that serve as alternatives to PHP, ASP, and JSP for web development often offer improved performance, scalability, and developer-friendly features. Here are some of the most popular alternatives:

1. Python (with frameworks like Django or Flask)
   • Why it’s an alternative: Python is known for its simplicity and readability. Frameworks like Django (full-stack) and Flask (lightweight) make it ideal for building scalable and maintainable web applications.
   • Features:
     • Robust ecosystem with libraries for almost every use case.
     • Strong support for data analytics, machine learning, and AI integration.
     • Security and performance optimizations built into frameworks like Django.
2. Ruby (with Ruby on Rails)
   • Why it’s an alternative: Ruby on Rails, a full-stack framework, is praised for its convention-over-configuration approach, enabling developers to build applications quickly.
   • Features:
     • Excellent for rapid development and prototyping.
     • Active community and rich set of plugins ("gems").
     • Clean and elegant syntax.
3. Node.js (JavaScript/TypeScript)
   • Why it’s an alternative: Node.js enables server-side scripting with JavaScript, unifying the development stack for front-end and back-end development.
   • Features:
     • Non-blocking, event-driven architecture for high-performance applications.
     • Large ecosystem of modules via npm.
     • Easily scalable with frameworks like Express.js or Nest.js.
4. Go (Golang)
   • Why it’s an alternative: Known for its speed and efficiency, Go is a statically typed language with a focus on simplicity and concurrency.
   • Features:
     • Excellent performance due to compiled binaries.
     • Built-in support for concurrent programming (e.g., goroutines).
     • Ideal for microservices and cloud-native applications.
5. Kotlin (with Ktor or Spring Boot)
   • Why it’s an alternative: Kotlin, a modern, concise JVM language, is gaining popularity for both Android and server-side development.
   • Features:
     • Interoperable with Java and existing enterprise stacks.
     • Supports both reactive and imperative programming paradigms.
     • Great toolsets for building modern, lightweight web applications.
6. Rust (with Actix or Rocket)
   • Why it’s an alternative: Rust is a systems programming language with an emphasis on safety, performance, and concurrency, now being adopted for web backends.
   • Features:
     • Memory safety without a garbage collector.
     • High performance comparable to C++.
     • Modern frameworks like Actix Web for building fast, secure APIs.
7. JavaScript/TypeScript (Deno)
   • Why it’s an alternative: Deno is a modern runtime for JavaScript and TypeScript, designed by the original creator of Node.js.
   • Features:
     • Secure by default with sandboxed execution.
     • Supports TypeScript out of the box.
     • Modern module system based on ES modules.
8. Elixir (with Phoenix)
   • Why it’s an alternative: Elixir is built on the Erlang VM, making it ideal for highly concurrent and fault-tolerant applications.
   • Features:
     • Real-time features like WebSockets are easy to implement.
     • High scalability and reliability.
     • Functional programming paradigm.
9. Perl (Modern Perl Frameworks like Mojolicious)
   • Why it’s an alternative: Perl, though older, has modern frameworks that make it a viable choice for web applications.
   • Features:
     • Strong text processing and regular expression capabilities.
     • Easy to deploy for small to medium-sized projects.
     • Compatible with legacy systems.
10. ASP.NET Core (C#)
    • Why it’s an alternative: A modern, cross-platform framework that replaces traditional ASP and provides improved performance and scalability.
    • Features:
      • Excellent integration with the Microsoft ecosystem.
      • High performance with asynchronous capabilities.
      • Fully open-source with cross-platform support.

Each of these languages and frameworks has unique strengths, and the choice depends on your project requirements, existing infrastructure, and developer expertise. For high scalability and modern needs, Node.js, Python, or Go are often top choices, while Elixir and Rust excel in performance-critical or real-time applications.

Client-server applications are groups of distributed programs running on networked computers, and interacting over known communication protocols. Rather than performing all the processing on a single system and transmitting formatted results to VT-100 terminals, client-server applications distribute processing between dedicated server and client machines. This architecture was facilitated by the proliferation of personal computers, whose additional processing power allowed some of the complex processing to be offloaded from servers down to the clients.

Over time, some proprietary client-server application platforms (e.g. PowerBuilder) grew to be very complex, and their configuration and maintenance became a nightmare. With each new version, the size and complexity of the client platform base seemed to increase by another order of magnitude, resulting in what were referred to as fat clients. This application bloat became a serious problem, especially as the number of fat clients installed on a single PC grew as well, as shown in Figure 6.7. In the next lesson, you will learn what architectural considerations to take into account when developing applications and Web sites.

[1]Servlet: A small application that runs on an Internet server. They are typically Java- and Perl-based alternatives to CGI scripts.

[2]CGI:Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is a specification for writing programs that enables transactions between a Web server and other programs on a server.