If you follow the unending stream of new Internet and Intranet product announcements, you'll hear references to various underlying or enabling technologies that are often mentioned yet rarely explained. Even if you know exactly where to find information about these technologies, you could easily spend all your waking hours learning just the basics - leaving little or no time to actually do anything productive with them. So let's take a quick tour of where to find background information on some of the most important Web technologies.
The API Overview page lists about a dozen APIs, including the core Java API and several additional APIs. The Java Enterprise API includes JDBC for database connectivity, the Java IDL based on the Object Management Group's (OMG) Interface Definition Language, and the Java RMI for remote method invocation. The Java Beans API integrates Java components with other component architectures, including Microsoft's OLE/COM/ActiveX architecture, OpenDoc, and Netscape's LiveConnect. The Java Commerce API, also known as the Java Wallet, addresses credit card and electronic cash transactions. The Java Management API provides objects and methods for managing enterprise networks over the Internet. The Java Server API is used to develop Java applications that run on Web servers as opposed to client browsers. The Java Security API supports cryptography, digital signatures, encryption, and authentication. Other Java APIs deal with various forms of multimedia and the use of Java in embedded systems.
The Netscape ONE platform integrates several technologies, including LiveConnect, Netscape's glue that lets Java applets and browser plug-ins talk to each other, JavaScript, Java, Netscape's Internet Foundation Classes (IFC) for Java, Netscape browser Plug-Ins, the Java Runtime Interface (JRI) for C/C++ programs, the IIOP (the Internet Inter-ORB Protocol) for integrating distributed objects and the Web, and HTML. Netscape now uses the moniker Server Plug-In API for what it formerly called the NSAPI (Netscape Server API). You can find a list of server add-ons, including databases and development tools, at http://home.netscape. com/comprod/server_central/server_add_ ons.html. However, until Netscape percolates this name change throughout its site, you should still search the Netscape site for "NSAPI."
The Site Builder Workshop Programming Area has dozens of links to explanations of key Microsoft technologies, including ActiveX, VBScript, Security, the Internet Information Server (IIS is Microsoft's Web Server) and database integration, the Internet Explorer (Microsoft's browser), and other topics such as DCOM (Distributed Component Object Model) and CIFS (Common Internet File System Protocol).
You can find Microsoft's Preliminary ActiveX Scripting Technical Specification (last updated July 23, 1996) at http://www.microsoft.com/intdev/sdk/docs/olescrpt/local.htm. (Editor's note: this page has moved to http://www.microsoft.com/intdev/sdk/docs/olescrpt/axscript.htm) Other informative pages include the ActiveX Controls Overview (http://www.microsoft.com/intdev/controls/controls.htm), the ActiveX Controls FAQ (http://www.microsoft.com/intdev/controls/ctrlfaq.htm), and the ActiveX Resources Area (http://www.microsoft.com/activex/default.htm).
The main page for VBScript is http://www.microsoft.com/vbscript. It has links to a FAQ, online documentation including a tutorial and the language references, and the VBScript download page. The Microsoft Internet Explorer Scripting Object Model for incorporating VBScript and JavaScript in HTML documents is described at http://www.microsoft.com/intdev/sdk/docs/scriptom/local.htm. (Editor's note: this page has moved to http://www.microsoft.com/intdev/sdk/docs/scriptom/omscr000.htm)
On the server side, the Internet Server API (ISAPI) Specification at http://www.microsoft.com/win32dev/apiext/isaphome.htm (Editor's note: this page has moved to http://www.microsoft.com/win32dev/apiext/isalegal.htm) provides links to two documents that explain the innards of Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS) and how it can interact with databases and other resources accessible to IIS. You can find links to documents describing several aspects of Microsoft's Internet Security Framework at http://www.microsoft.com/intdev/security.