What is the difference between Google Apps Scripts and Gadgets in Google Sites

I am getting familiar with Google Sites. What I want is, building a Site front-end for a Google Spreadsheet.

I want to Display data from the Spreadsheet in the Google Site, later maybe some graphics as well. To my knowledge there are two ways to accomplish this, Apps Scripts and Gadgets. Building a Gadget seemed much more easy in the beginning, however gives me some trouble. After reading more about Apps Scripts I finally found a way to access the Spreadsheet and display data.

But reading a lot of google documentation, I wonder what really is the difference? In what cases should one use Gadgets and in what case Apps Scripts?

Maybe I am just a little overwhelmed but it would be nice to get some feedback from experiences developers in that field!

Thanks a lot.

Cheers,

Daniel

Solution

Gadget is XML code containing HTML inside which means gadget is text.

Google Apps Script is kinda JavaScript which means GAS is code.

Might be the main difference.