Week 1 Assignments

Write your answers to the following questions as a Web page (HTML format) and submit your document via the digital drop box of the Assignments tool in WebCT.

1. The Internet and WWW are not synonymous. First of all, the Internet is a large group of networks. Actually it is one large network of networks. The Internet connects computers together globally, which forms a network where any and all computers can communicate with other computers. They must, however, be connected to the Internet. The information traveling over the Internet uses a variety of languages, ie protocols.
The World Wide Web is a way of retrieving information over the Internet. The Internet itself is the medium which the Web is built on top of. It uses the HTTP protocol to transmit data. The Web also utilizes Internet Explorer and Netscape to access specific Web documents.
So, basically the Web is a large portion of the Internet.

2. HTML is the coding language which is used on the WWW to create Hypertext documents. It is the basis for all websites. HTML is written in plain text with the addition of tags that define the text they enclose.

XHTML is a variant of HTML. When used in Web pages and search engines, it is more ‘universally’ acceptable than XML. XHMTL is a language that uses HTML elements and XML’s syntax rules. It allows the author to extend the current HTML tag set to define and include additional tags as well as combine XML vocabularies into on document. XHTML is also case-sensitive, meaning that all tags must be written in lowercase letters. It also requires every element to have a start tag as well as an end tag.

XML on the other hand is a standard for creating markup languages. It describes the structure of data. XML enables the author to define their own tags. It is like a metalanguage (language for describing languages). As long as the XML definition for a collection of data or “schema” is provided, the programmer can create a program to reliably process any data that is formatted according to those rules. XML is extremely strict in that it requires correct syntax every time. XML is also case-sensitive.

3. Compile a list of all the compiled programming languages you know and a list of all the scripting languages you know.

I took classes covering C++, HTML, JavaScript, XML, Flash, and VisualBasic. Even though I took these classes, I don’t feel very comfortable using these programs. I do not have extensive programming experience.

4.

	Compiled language	Scripting language
Samples	C, C++	JavaScript
Ease of authoring	More of a challenge to write, Does not provide much help in debugging a program	Easier to build Scripting languages are especially susceptible to bugs
Speed	Very fast	Slower than compiled languages-- especially longer scripts
Security issues	Compiled programs do not allow security to be implemented with in the code	JS libraries are accessible to anyone, unless you’ve created code that does not allow the user to use your JS Scripting language allows a high degree of security
Other	Takes less memory	JavaScript runs on the client side only Relies on a host program into which it is embedded Application takes up more memory

5. Find at least three scripting languages and compare their respective features, such as runtime environment requirements, ease of authoring, range of functionality, integration with other languages or computer applications, and popularity for different groups of users.

PHP is a scripting language that is suited for Web development. It can be embedded into HTML. Since it is a server-side, cross-platform, it lets the author create dynamic web pages. PHP-enabled web pages are like HTML pages in that they can create and edit them just like an HTML page. Basically the PHP web pages are just like HTML pages, except they have more tags the author is able to use. For the most part, web hosts offer PHP support.

Perl 1.0 has been in existence since 1987. It is a stable, cross platform programming language. Perl has been used for mission critical projects in both private and public sectors. Perl works with HTML, XML, as well as other mark-up languages. It can be embedded into web servers to speed up the processing. Perl is also the most popular web programming language. This is because of its text manipulation capabilities as well as its rapid development cycle. When it comes to using Perl, it is user-friendly, especially for the beginning programmer.

Lingo is a scripting language used by many unrelated programming languages. It is a simple language for beginning programmers (adults, students, etc.). Programmers with extensive experience can use it as well if they want to create simple programs with little or no hassle. It’s great for “easy-to-use development tools”. Lingo does not use extensive or complex commands. It’s used for writing business or personal programs, forms, data bases, educational software, etc. Lingo uses graphical objects that work properly under all versions of Windows.