Often abbreviated as JS, JavaScript is a high-level, interpreted scripting language that serves, along with CSS and HTML, as one of the core technologies used in Internet websites, as it enables interactivity in web pages.
The terms Vanilla JavaScript and Vanilla JS refer to JavaScript that is not extended by any frameworks or additional libraries. Scripts written in Vanilla JavaScript use plain JavaScript code.
Despite the similarities in names, JavaScript and Java are distinct, differing greatly in design. Although JavaScript is similar to Java in some ways, there are fundamental differences. The development of JavaScript was influenced more by Scheme and Self than by Java, and it was originally known as LiveScript.
JavaScript was created by Netscape Communications, in collaboration with Sun Microsystems, for use in the Netscape Navigator browser. Developed under the name of Mocha, it was officially named LiveScript when it first shipped with Netscape Navigator 2.0 in 1995, but was soon renamed JavaScript.
JavaScript is an object-oriented, cross-platform scripting language commonly used to make web pages interactive, with animations, pop-up menus, clickable buttons, and so forth.
Node.js is a server-side version of JavaScript that that is used to execute JavaScript code outside of a browser, allowing developers to use JavaScript for server-side scripting, producing dynamic web page content before the page is sent to the user's web browser.
Other technologies that relate to JavaScript include JSON, jQuery, and AJAX.
JSON refers to JavaScript Object Notation, and is an open-standard file format that uses human-readable text to transmit data objects. Although derived from JavaScript, other programming languages also use code to generate and parse JSON-format data.
Developed by the jQuery Team in 2006, jQuery is a JavaScript library that is used to simplify HTML Document Object Model (DOM) tree traversal and manipulation, event handling, CSS animation, and AJAX.
AJAX refers to a set of web development techniques that use several web technologies on the client-side to create asynchronous web applications. AJAX uses a group of technologies, such as JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, in combination to mark up and style information. The webpage can then be modified by JavaScript to dynamically display the new information.
All that is required to get started with JavaScript is a modern web browser that includes and allows access to the web console. However, while the web console allows you to execute one line of JavaScript code, it does not permit you to save any of your code samples. So, as with pretty much any other programming or scripting language, you will also use a text editor or, in some cases, an HTML editor.
In 1996, Microsoft released VBScript and JScript. JScript, a reverse-engineered implementation of Netscape's JavaScript, was included as part of Internet Explorer 4 and made available for server-side scripting in Internet Information Server. However, their implementations differed enough from JavaScript that it became difficult for designers to create a single website that would work well in both Microsoft's and Netscape's browsers. JavaScript gained a reputation for being one of the roadblocks to a cross-platform Internet, severely inhibiting the use of JavaScript in web implementations.
In 1997, ECMAScript was created to standardize JavaScript across platforms. JavaScript remains the best-known implementation of that standard, along with JScript and ActionScript.
Editors that are commonly used for writing JavaScript include Atom, Brackets, Cloud 9, Emacs, Notepad++, ScratchPad, Sublime Text, Vim, Visual Studio Code, Webclipse, Webstorm, and Vim, although online Webclipsse and Webstorm were developed with JavaScript specifically in mind. Any text editor can be used.
Topics related to JavaScript or any of its implementations, tools, tutorials, or other content associated with the scripting language are appropriate for this category.
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Recommended Resources
The free and open-source JavaScript compiler was originally used mostly to convert ECMAScript code into a backward-compatible version of JavaScript that can be run by older JavaScript engines but is also a popular tool for using the newest features of JavaScript. Available under an MIT License, the most recent version of the compiler may be downloaded from the site, along with full documentation, an upgrade guide, setup information, and video.
https://babeljs.io/
Featuring a book by Marijn Haverbeke about JavaScript, programming, and other things digital, the text may be read online here or a paper-bound copy may be purchased from Amazon or elsewhere. Licensed under a Creative Commons attribution-noncommercial license, the book may be downloaded free as a PDF file, EPUB file, or MOBI file. Translations are available in Bulgarian, Portuguese, and Russian. The online version is divided by an introduction and twenty-one chapters.
https://eloquentjavascript.net/
How to Enable JavaScript in Your Browser
Most websites contain JavaScript, a scripting language that runs on the visitor’s web browser. If the browser is not set to enable JavaScript, the functionality of the web pages may be limited or unavailable. This site will display a message telling the user whether JavaScript is enabled in his/her browser and, if not, will provide instructions for enabling it for most common browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Safari. The site is available in several languages.
https://enable-javascript.com/
Pluralsight is a publicly held online education company providing video training courses for software developers, IT administrators, and other professionals. Its JavaScript site offers its JavaScript course for developers who need to learn to code in JavaScript and, with the help of community members, the site also helps to keep experienced developers up to date on JavaScript news, developments, frameworks, and libraries. The site includes an online editor.
https://www.javascript.com/
Created in 2007 by Ilya Kantor, and regularly updated since then, new chapters and new information have been added, and outdated ones removed. The site includes a tutorial on the JavaScript scripting language, including beginning and advanced topics. The information is available on the site, and an offline version may be purchased in EPUB or PDF format, in part or in whole. Topics include the JavaScript language, the browser, and additional articles.
https://javascript.info/
The JavaScript resource includes tutorials for JavaScript, CSS, developer, and web design, with the focus on JavaScript, as well as a comprehensive listing of JS objects, properties, methods, and other references, DOM references, free Java applets, and free cut-and-paste JavaScripts. The site also includes a guide to online web development courses, including a list of recommended courses. JavaScript book reviews are presented, along with various tools.
http://www.javascriptkit.com/
The initial release of jQuery was in 2006. It is a small but fast and feature-rich JavaScript library that makes things like HTML document traversal and manipulation, event handling, animation, and AJAX simpler. It may be downloaded from the site, which also includes full API documentation, a plugin registry, and a blog. Other related projects include jQuery User Interface, jQuery Mobile, QUnit, a JavaScript unit testing framework, and Sizzle, a CSS selector engine.
https://jquery.com/
Available for free, the online source code editor for JavaScript can be used to paste or type code, run online tests, save and share snippets of code, or complete full JavaScript projects. JavaScript and HTML can be edited in the same window, results can be previewed without leaving the page, and code can be saved online or shared with other members of the community. Members can browse code from other authors, load samples for learning purposes, or add common JS frameworks.
https://js.do/
Named for JavaScript Object Notation, JSON is a lightweight data-interchange format that is designed to be easy for people to read and write, and for machines to parse and generate. It is a language-independent data format derived from JavaScript, but includes conventions familiar to programmers of the C family of programming languages, and is used by several other modern programming languages, as well. A description of JSON is provided on the site, including its structures.
http://www.json.org/
Written in JavaScript, RequireJS is a file and module loader designed for in-browser use, although it can be used in other JavaScript environments. Available under an MIT License, it may be downloaded from the site. A quick-start guide is available online, along with instructions on its use with jQuery, Node, and Dojo. A history of its development is published, the requirements for its use are posted, and links to related resources and guides are included.
https://requirejs.org/
Developed by Thomas Fuchs in 2010, Script.aculo.us is a JavaScript library built on the Prototype JavaScript Framework. Now included with Ruby on Rails and Seaside, it is also provided separately to work with other web frameworks and scripting languages. Available through an MIT License, the current version may be downloaded from the site, which also includes documentation, development and licensure notes, bugs, and usage information.
http://script.aculo.us/
Designed and developed by Microsoft, TypeScript is a strict syntactical subset of JavaScript. Included as a first-class programming language in Microsoft Visual Studio, the TypeScript compiler was itself written in TypeScript and compiled to JavaScript, and available under the Apache License. The latest version may be downloaded from the site, which also features full documentation, a quick-start guide, and an online playground where TypeScript code may be practiced and run.
https://www.typescriptlang.org/
