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Server side scripting
For making advanced web sites with interactive features, you need some kind of server side scripting. Server side scripts are programs that are executed on the server, and can be used in many ways. Template based web sites and shopping carts are just two examples.
Not all web hosting accounts support all common scripting languages, so this is an important factor in your search for the perfect web host.Here is a short presentation of the most common programming languages used for server side scripting.
ASP
ASP, or Active Server Pages, is a language developed by Microsoft for making advanced web pages. It is available in most web hosting accounts on Microsoft servers. There is also a version for Unix servers called Chillisoft ASP, but it is not as stable as real ASP. There are plenty of online ASP resources too.
Cold Fusion
A scripting language developed by Allaire. Cold Fusion is not free, so your web host has to pay to install Cold Fusion on their servers. This increases the cost of their web hosting services.
Cold Fusion is powerful and very easy to learn. Not supported by many web hosts, so Cold Fusion addicts have a somewhat limited choice of web hosting providers.
Perl
Perl has been the most used scripting language for web applications. It is a very powerful language with many advanced features, and there are 1000’s of perl scripts available for free in various scripting directories. Perl scripting is available in most cheap web hosting packages.
PHP
PHP, or Hypertext Preprocessor (Is something missing here?)is an open source language and has gained enormous popularity the last years. It is easy to learn and there are many readymade scripts available. Almost every cheap web hosting package includes PHP. It is easy to learn for a programming language with many books and web sites dedicated to it.
Python
Another new language. Python is not yet as widespread as PHP, ASP or Perl, and Python is not a language that is supported by most web hosting companies. It has some interesting features, though.
Your choice
If you are new to server side scripting it can be wise to go with ASP, PHP or Perl, as there are many resources and scripts available for free in addition to them being supported by many web hosting companies. Programming can be hard to learn and if you are new to programming, stick to one language, at least in the beginning. When you are inexperienced, using many languages will just be confusing.
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