Cron job for Google Sitemaps?

[DaHLiA]

First of all, what a cron job is? Why do we need it at all?
And what programming language do we need to know for creating a corn job?

From what I have read from google search is, Cron job helps us by automatically updating our sitemaps and submitting them to Google which means we need not manually create sitemaps everytime when we make a post (in case of blogs) and submit it at the end of everyday.

Am I right in my understanding? Also, are you aware of any other automated methods than this Cron job?

[Izzmo]

Well, cron jobs are useful for MANY things, not just sitemaps. Cron Jobs are mainly for setting up tasks, if you will, to automate processes, whether it be on a precise schedule the cron job fires up and runs a script, or if you pipe data to the job itself so it runs when data comes to it.

On Apache you just need to know tomcat, so you might be good there.

[Thomas Schulz]

On Windows you could use Task Scheduler. Then Launch whatever sitemapper program you use with command line parameters (e.g. A1 Sitemap Generator supports this)

[Izzmo]

Keep in mind most people wouldn't have access to that Unless they own the server of course.

[m42]

Originally Posted by Izzmo

Keep in mind most people wouldn't have access to that Unless they own the server of course.

A lot of hosting companies seem to offer cron access via cPanel.