- From: Gregg Vanderheiden <gv@trace.wisc.edu>
- Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 22:13:59 -0500
- To: <jasonw@ariel.its.unimelb.edu.au>, "'Andi Snow-Weaver'" <andisnow@us.ibm.com>
- Cc: <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
AH Here are two definitions we should capture Gregg -- ------------------------------ Gregg C Vanderheiden Ph.D. > > can you please explain the difference between a "programming language" and > an "API"? A programming language is a language in which code is written. Content can include scripts, and these will only be executed by a user agent if it supports the programming language in which the script is written. The script is interpreted rather than compiled code. An API is a set of interfaces - typically class and function definitions - provided by a user agent. The DOM is an example of an API. The same API can be accessed by code written in different programming languages. Thus, Web content that includes interpreted code requires that the user agent support both the programming language and the API's that are used in the script. If the API is supported but not the programming langauge, the script can't be interpreted and executed. If the programming language is supported by not the API, the script can't be run.
Received on Saturday, 9 April 2005 03:14:02 UTC