A common use for a CGI script is to process an interactive form on a Web page. For example, you might fill out a form ordering a book through Interlibrary Loan. The script processes your information and sends it to a designated e-mail address in the Interlibrary Loan department. Developed by Microsoft, ASPs are HTML pages that include scripting and create interactive Web server applications. The scripts run on the server, rather than on the Web browser, to generate the HTML pages sent to browsers.
ASPs end in the file extension .asp.
Java is probably the most famous of the programming languages of the Web. Developed by Sun Microsystems, the aim of Java is to create programs that will be platform independent. A perfect Java program should work equally well on a PC, Macintosh, Unix, and so on, without any additional programming. This goal has yet to be realized. Java can be used to write applications for both Web and non-Web use.