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The Web application development has evolved from a network-based hypermedia distributed information system offering static information to a marketplace for selling and buying goods and services. The increasingly sophisticated web application development that enables this marketplace requires a technology for presenting dynamic information.
First generation solutions included CGI, which is a mechanism for running external programs through a web server. The problem with CGI scripts is scalability; a new process is created for every request.
Second generation solutions included web server vendors providing plug-ins and APIs for their servers. The problem is that their solutions were specific to their server products. For example, Microsoft provided Active Server Pages (ASP) that made it easier to create dynamic content. However, their solution only worked with Microsoft IIS or Personal Web Server. Therefore, if you wanted to use ASP you had to commit yourself to Microsoft products and you would not be enjoying the freedom of selecting your favorite web server and operating system!
Another second-generation web application development technology that is quite popular in enterprise computing is servlets. Servlets make it easier to write server-side applications using JavaTM technology. The problem with either CGI or servlets, however, is that you have to follow the write, compile, and deploy life cycle.
PHP web development pages are a third generation solution that can be combined easily with some second generation web application solutions, creating dynamic content, and making it easier and faster to build web-based application that work with a variety of other technologies: web servers, web browsers, application servers and other development tools.
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