Encyclopedia
Languages and formats
This department
The languages and file formats websites are made of, from HTML, CSS and JavaScript to PHP, SQL and the data formats behind web APIs.
Entries
16 of 16 planned entries are published. New entries are added in batches, and every one is checked against its sources before it goes live.
- HTML: The language of web pages, HTML 1 to the living standard
- CSS: Styling the web, from the 1994 proposal to grid and container queries
- JavaScript: Written in 10 days in 1995, now everywhere
- PHP: From Personal Home Page tools to PHP 8.5
- SQL: The database language behind most dynamic sites
- Perl: The CGI era's scripting language
- Python: Its role on the web: Django, Flask and beyond
- Ruby: The language and the Rails effect
- Java: Applets, servlets and enterprise web apps
- TypeScript: JavaScript with types
- JSON: The data format of web APIs
- XML: Feeds, sitemaps and XHTML
- SVG: Vector graphics on the web
- Markdown: Plain-text writing for the web
- WebAssembly: Near-native code in the browser
- Ajax: Pages that update without reloading