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Originally published at Internet.comAnyone who has designed web sites for any length of time knows the limitations of html and other client side languages like CSS and JavaScript. While these languages remain at the core of web development, their primary function is to control how text and graphics are presented. Because they lack the ability to manipulate information on demand, or communicate with web servers, the result is a static web page.
The ability to create dynamic pages opens doors. Suppose you wanted to create a survey to collect information from visitors to your web site. You could easily create a form with HTML that included all your questions, and have the results emailed to you. But to convert the raw information into a meaningful format, you'd have to manually compile it, and then organize it to gauge the results - a process which could take hours.
Fortunately for you, using scripting, there are easier ways to collect and evaluate the results of the survey, or any form. Rather than sending the information through email, a script grabs it and stores it in a database on the server. A second script communicates with the database, gathers and groups the information, and prints it out when you visit the page. The script could also produce bar graphs, percentages and totals, or present the information any other way you could conceive; automatically, and on demand...
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