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Server-Side
Products
Server-side programming is an essential part of any website. On nearly every website it is a server-side script that is used to take the information that a user has typed into a contact form and send it in an email to a customer enquiry email address. This is only the start of course, server-side scripting can give your website direct access to databases, file systems, image manipulation and just about anything else the server is capable of. Server-side products act as the "glue" between the web pages on the site and the power of the server.
Historically this function was always performed by Perl CGI, and more recently by ASP primarily on Microsoft servers, the former is very powerful the latter is less powerful or versatile but easier to program and integrate into standard web pages. PHP is the best of both worlds combining the power and versatility of Perl with the ease of integration of ASP and is available and fully supported on all major web server architectures.
Server-side scripts are typically used for:
- Building and sending emails from content supplied by a user on a website form
- Shopping carts and e-commerce applications
- User membership systems for websites
- Message boards, forum systems and site searches
- Integrating database content into web pages
- Control web site content through browser-based interfaces and content management systems
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