Programming Languages

Practical extraction and reporting language, or Perl, is a scripting language first created by Larry Wall to be used as duct tape for programming with the Unix operating system. Due to its immense power for handling piles of text and, consequently, as a common gateway interface (CGI) scripting language, Perl became very popular among server-side scripters. Perl has a large community of contributing programmers and, what's more, costs nothing and is free to redistribute.

PHP is a server-side, cross-platform, HTML embedded scripting language that lets you create dynamic web pages. PHP-enabled web pages are treated just like regular HTML pages and you can create and edit them the same way you normally c reate regular HTML pages.

Java is a high-level, object-oriented programming language developed by Sun Microsystems. It is similar to C++, but has been simplified to eliminate language features that cause common programming errors. Java is a general purpose programming language with a number of features that make the language well suited for use on the Web.

JavaScript is a script language - a system of programming codes, created by Netscape, that can be embedded into the HTML of a web page to add functionality. JavaScript should not be confused with the Java programming language. In general, script languages such as JavaScript are easier and faster to code than more structured languages such as Java and C++.

ASP is Microsoft's server-side scripting technology. An Active Server Page has an .asp extension and it mixes HTML and scripting code that can be written in VBScript or JScript. ASP is distributed with Microsoft's IIS web server, so most host using IIS will also offer ASP for dynamic web programming. ASP.NET is the next version of ASP.

Apple Computer's OSA language, with English, French & Japanese dialects. The language is somewhat similar to HyperTalk, and very different than traditional programming languages. The best description I can think of is "English-like". Like English, AppleScript is easy to get into, but some find it difficult to master. AppleScript is an object-oriented language, with inheritance and delegation.

An industry standard object-oriented compiled language, formally standardized in 1998, but tracing its history to the early 1980s, with an heritage in C and Simula. C++ is a general-purpose programming language with a bias towards systems programming. C++ runs on most computers from the most powerful supercomputers to the ubiquitous personal computers. Symbian OS is written in C++.

A Unix shell, also called "the command line", provides the traditional user interface for the Unix operating system. Users direct the operation of the computer by entering command input as text for a shell to execute. Unix Shell scripts help automate such processes and tasks.

Tcl (Tool Command Language) is a very powerful but easy to learn dynamic programming language, suitable for a very wide range of uses, including web and desktop applications, networking, administration, testing and many more. Open source and business-friendly, Tcl is a mature yet evolving language that is truly cross platform, easily deployed and highly extensible.