What is the difference between client side scripting and server side scripting languages?

Answer 1

Best Practice : Use both The Cons of using one or the other : With client side validation only, if a user disables JavaScript, then no validation will occur. With server side validation only, there are more return trips to the server which in turns uses more resources and slows down the site when a client side script could have done the validation without the server. The Pros of having both : The data will always be validated, whether or not the client has JavaScript enabled or not. There will be less server strain with the client side validation. The client can fix form errors faster with instant client side notifications. The data will have a bit more integrity going through the dual validation process.

Answer 2

When you access a website, your computer acts as a client. It is like a client to a business - it requests services, and the person on the other end of the communication, the server, renders these services (in this case handing you a web page to load).

During this communications process, the server may need to do something with the data before it passes it on to you. Any code that is doing this is being done on the server, so it is a server side language. However, code that executes on your machine, after you receive the data, is client side code.

Examples of common server side languages are PHP, ASP, and CGI. Some even use C++, Java, etc to run server side code. They usually do things such as check if you're logged in to the website, and if you are, find your personalized information and put that in the page.

Examples of client side languages are HTML, Javascript, CSS, et al. These languages manipulate the data after it's been loaded, by doing things such as rendering and changing elements on the screen, asking the server for more information when you click a link, etc.

Answer 3

Client side validation means the validation of a piece of data is executed on the client's machine, while the server side validation means that the data is sent to server side first, then the validation is carried out.

This would need some examples to put the terms in context. Client side validation, for most of the software that runs on a PC without network or internet connection, if there is any validation, there is no distinguish of "client" or "server", because they are the same (the PC).

But for internet (not limited to this, it could be network, 2 iPads) connections for example, let's say the web page ask you to provide a password entry. The validation of the password entry may occur on both client side and server side. The client side (your internet browser on your PC) validation may use JavaScript to check the length of the password string (not the content of the string) to see if it exceeds a certain length (e.g., minimum of 6 characters). If yes, then the data is sent to server side to be validated (the entered value against the registered value). That server maybe at the other side of the globe.

Answer 4

Client-side scripting runs on the user's computer, and is typically used for animations, client-side validation, and other types of dynamic pages. Server-side scripting runs on the server (NOT on the user's computer), and is typically used for things like credit card processing or accessing and updating a database. In other words, whatever "side" the code is running on is the only "side" that will be directly influenced by the code, although many interactions require both client-side and server-side scripting, such as web-based games, advanced shopping carts/merchant sites, and so on.

Answer 5

Client-side code runs on the browser when the page is loaded. It can be easily manipulated with web developer tools. Server-side code runs on the server before the page is sent to the browser. Manipulating this code is more difficult, as it requires access to the server's file system.