Which of the following best describes server-side scripting?

Server-side scripting refers to a web server configuration in which scripts are executed on the server before any content is sent to the user's device. This means that the code is processed on the server itself, generating dynamic web pages or content that the server then delivers to the client's browser.

When you think of server-side scripting, it involves technologies like PHP, Python (with frameworks such as Django), Ruby (with Ruby on Rails), or ASP.NET, wherein the script can access databases, handle user input, and perform various operations that are not visible to the end-user until the final output is relayed to their browser. This contrasts with client-side scripting, which is executed in the user's browser and can only manipulate what is displayed after the content is already sent from the server.

The other options describe different concepts. For example, describing scripting that executes on the user's device aligns with client-side scripting, but does not reflect the nature of server-side scripting. Languages designed for user interfaces are primarily concerned with presentation rather than the logic that occurs on the server, and protocols for data transmission pertain to the methods used to send and receive data over networks, which is separate from the concept of scripting itself.