[KLUG Members] Scripting language

[Adam Williams]

> My understanding is that JavaScript is best used for checking form data 
> for validity and I think it is also used in DHTML.

Yes.

> What I would do is research what the company uses, research what the job 
> market likes, decide what my own preference is and adjust my descision 
> from there.
> Now correct me if I'm wrong but what about using JavaScript to check the 
> form and binary programs to manipulate the backend?  I've heard of folks 

That is the typicall used of Javascript.  The problem is it introduces
compatibility problems with various browsers and some people just turn
it off.  Some Javascript is universally supported and does work well
everywhere, but one needs to TEST TEST TEST.

It also depends on the target audience for a web application.  If the
target is "the Internet" it is best to use things like Javascript as
little as possible or not at all, since there is always that guy using
his Sparc Station 5 running Netscape 3.01 to browse the web.  But for an
intranet application one can be more liberal because platforms are
usually limited and defined (I can tell you a client on my Intranet will
be running IE6 or mozilla 1.3 so you only need to test those two).

> doing this and the avowed reason was to avoid the possibility of having 
> "script kiddies" mess around on the system.  Don't know if it works though.

Javascript doesn't do anything to block script kiddies.  They can just
form raw POST events with something like curl or wget.  Javascript is
about improving the application interface by adding a bit of
interactivity.