Introduction to Selenium RC, Grid and WebDriver

Selenium RC:
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RC- Stands for Remote Control
It was introduced in 2004
It supports different Scripting languages like Java/Ruby/Python/Perl/C#...etc.,
It supports different Browsers like Chrome, Firefox, IE...etc
It supports different OS like Windows, Linux, Solaris, Mac (OSX)...etc
*NOTE:  Selenium RC uses JavaScript injections to communicate Web Browsers
        Selenium RC requires Selenium RC server which converts script into JavaScript injections

Disadvantages:
JavaScript injections are blocked on majority of the browsers, hence RC scripts are not able to execute successfully
Hackers mostly use JavaScript injections to hack websites, hence its not secured
There is no further enhancements for Selenium RC (Deprecated)

Selenium Grid:
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It is also called as Grid-1
It is used for parallel execution (i.e. executing multiple scripts simultaneously on different machines)

Disadvantages:
It supports only RC scripts
There is no further enhancements for Selenium Grid (Deprecated)

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Selenium WebDriver:
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WD was introduced in 2010
The main intension is to overcome challenges faced in Selenium RC
WD does not require RC server/proxy server
JavaScript injections completely removed in WD
WD also supports different languages like Java/Ruby/Python/Perl/C#...etc
WD supports different Browsers like Chrome, Firefox, IE,...etc
it supports different OS like Windows, linux, solaris, Mac (OSX)...etc
WD able to communicate with Browser native code
IE ---> developed using C#
FF ---> developed using Java
Using WD we can also automate mobile applications using Appium add-ons
WD is an interface between scripts and AUT
NOTE: WD doesn't have any user interface

Prerequisites for WD configuration:
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1. JDK 1.8:
Java Development Kit which consists of JDK+JRE library (Java Run Environment is used for WD)
Donwload and Install JDK 1.8 based on your machine specifications

2. Eclipse Mars 2:
Eclipse IDE is an Editor to write java programs
Donwload and Install Eclipse Mars 2 based on your machine specifications

3. WebDriver Jars (2.53.1):
Jars (Java Archive), which consists of library that contains set of classes, methods, properties used to communicate to the browser
Donwload and Install WebDriver Jars (2.53.1) based on your machine specifications