client- & server-side web apps

[BobLewiston]

Please excuse what may be a very stupid question from a onetime programmer who is very seriously considering trying to break back into the industry:

In today's web-based technologies, client-side apps run in browsers and are typically written in Java, Perl, Javascript, etc., and server-side apps run on website servers and are typically written in .NET languages such as C#, right?

 

[DonQuichote]

Not necessarily .NET languages. For instance, lots of pages are written in PHP. Perl and Python are also very popular. In fact, you can use almost any language on the server, because you only need the server to understand it. So you will also find VB6, C and Lisp for server-side code.

For client-side code, you need the client to understand it, which has always been (and still is) a problem.

Not every client supports JavaScript, for example. Even if that is the most supported language. But all kinds of vulnerabilities and "ad-attacks" cause a lot of visitors to switch it off (I find the "NoScript" Firefox extension vital to do normal surfing on the web).

Good web applications are written in such a way that support of the client-side language just makes the application work better, but does not need the language to be supported.

That said, hardly any page that uses client-side code is well-written, and lots of them are even written for one browser with one set of preferences only. If you want to re-enter IT, please make a difference here.

+++ Despite being wrong in every important aspect, that is a very good analogy +++
Hex (in Darwin's Watch)