cgi & java

[Isadora]

A super newbie to cgi (perl) and java scripts. Can you verify what I think I understand and answer a few questions?

java - processed by user's system, browser dependent, best use is for short commands, quick effects (roll over, color change, drop down menu)

cgi - processed by host server, all users can access, best use is for large info and commands (classifieds, calendars, interactivity with user)

If user's system cannot read the java script, do they get an error message? are they unable to see the page the script is on?

Most of the free web hosts don't allow cgi-bin access. Anyone ever used a 3rd party cgi host server? Saw some with ready made scripts and you link the user to the page hosted on their server.

[Statica]

Originally posted by Isadora A super newbie to cgi (perl) and java scripts. Can you verify what I think I understand and answer a few questions? java - processed by user's system, browser dependent, best use is for short commands, quick effects (roll over, color change, drop down menu)

Although JAVA [the greatest thing since sliced bread] has been relegated to that by mostly script kiddies JAVA is serverside too, it does a whole lot more than simply dealing with visual enhancements, check out http://www.earthweb.com for some such examples and possiblities

cgi - processed by host server, all users can access, best use is for large info and commands (classifieds, calendars, interactivity with user)

CGI is serverside exclusively, and pretty much does the same things JAVA can, it can be written in a variety of languages depending on the interpretors and the operating system of the server. The best use is dealing with information, although there are some implementations for visual enhancements as well.

If user's system cannot read the java script, do they get an error message? are they unable to see the page the script is on?

Yes usually with most browsers there is an error message on requiring JS or JAVA. Or to be doubly sure u can code for such messages quite easily.

Most of the free web hosts don't allow cgi-bin access. Anyone ever used a 3rd party cgi host server? Saw some with ready made scripts and you link the user to the page hosted on their server.

Yep I have used them too, they arent too bad, of course select one that lets u use your own scripts, while having concrete security measures as well, sp that some1 else's scripts dont screw up your site as well.

http://www.hostsave.com is fairly cheap and has CGI axs.
of course make sure what they support be it Perl, C, PHP etc etc....

HTH