Editing Server-side scripting (section)

== Explanation ==
In the earlier days of the web, server-side scripting was almost exclusively performed by using a combination of [[C (programming language)|C]] programs, [[Perl]] scripts, and [[shell script]]s using the [[Common Gateway Interface]] (CGI). Those scripts were executed by the [[operating system]], and the results were served back by the [[web server]]. Many modern web servers can directly execute on-line [[scripting language]]s such as [[Active Server Pages|ASP]], [[JavaServer Pages|JSP]], [[Perl]], [[PHP]] and [[Ruby (programming language)|Ruby]] either by the web server itself or via extension modules (e.g. [[mod_perl]] or [[mod_php]]) to the webserver. For example, WebDNA includes its own embedded database system. Either form of scripting (i.e., CGI or direct execution) can be used to build up complex multi-page sites, but direct execution usually results in less overhead because of the lower number of calls to external interpreters.

Dynamic websites sometimes use custom web application servers, such as [[GlassFish|Glassfish]], [[Plack (software)|Plack]] and [[Python (programming language)|Python]]'s "Base HTTP Server" library, although some may not consider this to be server-side scripting. When using dynamic web-based scripting techniques, developers must have a keen understanding of the logical, temporal, and physical separation between the client and the server. For a user's action to trigger the execution of server-side code, for example, a developer working with classic ASP must explicitly cause the user's browser to make a request back to the webserver.

Server-side scripts are completely processed by the servers instead of clients. When clients request a page containing server-side scripts, the application server processes the scripts and returns an HTML page to the client.