Java, created by Sun Microsystems, allows the Web author to place into documents small programs, or applets, which can be written to perform different tasks.
As with HTML, Java is designed as hardware independent so its applications
can run on a variety of CPUs and operating systems. Applications
written in Java can be transported accross the Internet and are
accessible by anyone with a Java interpreter, including Netscape 2.0.
At this time, the application of Java in library-related
tasks is just beginning to be investigated. Since Java is based on the
programming language "C", Java would appear out of reach for many library Web developers. JavaScript extends the programmatic capabilities of Java
to a wide range of authors and is being touted as being easy enough for anyone
who can compose HTML. While Java is used by programmers to create new objects
and applets, JavaScript is designed for use by HTML page authors and Web
developers to dynamically script objects running on either the client or
the server.
ActiveX is Microsoft's response to Java. It is the set of
technologies that also provides cross-platform, component interoperability
across networks, including the Internet. Because it is also an open technology, developers can support it to integrate their products with the Active Platform
in their browser, application, or operating system. It is being promoted
as a high-performance language-independent scripting, supporting syntax
compatible with both the Visual Basic programming system and JavaScript.