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Server-side programming is scripting that is ran on the web server, rather than on the client's computer. So rather than the code being sent to the browser to be executed, the result of the code (as executed on the server) is sent to the browser instead.

There are several advantages to using server-side scripts rather than client-side scripts. Not only are the pages usually smaller (because the code doesn't need to be downloaded), details stored on the server can be accessed. This means that it is much simpler to write a page containing information from a database in a server-side language.

Also, rather than requiring the language interpretor be installed in the user's browser, server-side languages only require it to be installed on the web server. If the language used is a common and ubiquitous language such as php this can be a major advantage, but if a less common language (such as Ruby on Rails) is selected, then the developer would need to install the interpretor on the web server.

Examples of server-side languages include php, Perl, Python, or Ruby on Rails.