I'm a man with no credit history. And was turned down for many times by various issuer.

Recently one of my friends, who had established a good credit, help me with joint-applying for a card. Firstly we put my name first and then his name, they also turned us down because of "Insufficient credit history". Just by the same issuer, after we changed the name order of us two, we got instantly approved. What a thing!

But I still not sure if a joint application can help me improve my credit score. And I also want to know the difference among joint application, cosigning and additional card.

Can anyone here tell me?

I believe a joint account and co-signing are basically the same thing as far as a credit reference. You are both legally responsible for making payment and therefore you both get credit when the account is in good standing. If you are simply an authorized user then you are not legally responsible, and in general will not help your credit rating.