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
4 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 (coming soon): The database language behind most dynamic sites
- Perl (coming soon): The CGI era's scripting language
- Python (coming soon): Its role on the web: Django, Flask and beyond
- Ruby (coming soon): The language and the Rails effect
- Java (coming soon): Applets, servlets and enterprise web apps
- TypeScript (coming soon): JavaScript with types
- JSON (coming soon): The data format of web APIs
- XML (coming soon): Feeds, sitemaps and XHTML
- SVG (coming soon): Vector graphics on the web
- Markdown (coming soon): Plain-text writing for the web
- WebAssembly (coming soon): Near-native code in the browser
- Ajax (coming soon): Pages that update without reloading