JavaScript is a lightweight programming language that web developers often use to create more dynamic interactions when developing web pages, applications, servers, and even games.
Developers often use JavaScript together with and . The programming language works well with CSS when formatting HTML elements. However, JavaScript also allows for user interaction, something CSS cannot do on its own.
JavaScript implementations in web, mobile apps, and game development make learning this programming language worthwhile. You can do this through learning platforms like , or by exploring free JavaScript apps and templates on code hosting platforms like .
What is JavaScript?
JavaScript is a programming language used to create dynamic content on web pages. Create elements to enhance visitor interaction, such as dropdown menus, animated graphics, and dynamic background colors.
What is JavaScript used for?
Initial versions of the programming language were for internal use only. After Netscape submitted it as a standard specification for web browsers, JavaScript led to the release of ECMAScript.
It was a general-purpose scripting language to ensure interoperability of web pages across different browsers and devices.
Since then, JavaScript has continued to grow alongside new browsers like MozillaFirefox Y Google Chrome. The latter even started developing the first modern JavaScript engine, called V8which compiles the bytecode into native machine code.
Today, JavaScript has many frameworks and libraries to simplify complex projects, such as , and .
Although originally running on the client side, the JavaScript implementation has been extended to the server side following the development of Node.jsa cross-platform server environment built on Google Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine.
While it is true that it is primarily aimed at web-based programs, JavaScript programming features have other implementations in different areas. Below are several basic uses of JavaScript.
1. Web and mobile applications
The development of JavaScript frameworks, which consist of libraries of JavaScript code, allows developers to use pre-written JavaScript code in their projects. It saves them the time and effort of having to code programming features from scratch.
Each JavaScript framework has features that are intended to simplify the development and debugging process.
For example, front-end JavaScript frameworks like jQuery and ReactJS improve design efficiency. They allow developers to reuse and update code components without affecting each other, in terms of function or value.
For their part, mobile application development frameworks such as allow the creation of native or hybrid applications.
The implementation of JavaScript code in Node.js also plays an important role in web development. Node.js can reduce server response time due to its single-threaded nature and non-blocking architecture and bypass delays.
Node.js is also lightweight enough to serve as a scalable tool for microservices, allowing you to build a single app made up of small services with individual processes.
2. Building web servers and server applications
Through Node.js, JavaScript allows developers to build web servers and back-end infrastructure, saving time and effort.
The built-in HTTP module allows you to develop a basic HTTP server that displays plain text when users access a web page. You can use Node.js’s own web server, or third party servers like Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) and to handle HTTP requests.
Please note that Node-OS works best on Linux operating systems as it is built on top of the .
3. Interactive behavior on websites
One of the main functions of JavaScript is to add dynamism to web pages. This includes showing animations, modifying text visibility, and creating dropdown menus.
Although you can use only HTML and CSS code to build a web page, it will only have a static display. With JavaScript, a user can interact with web pages and have a better browsing experience.
In addition, JavaScript allows you to change the content and values of HTML attributes without having to reload the web page first. This is because JavaScript supports the following data types:
- String: consists of textual data enclosed in quotation marks. For example, ‘Hello World‘ Y ‘Show text ‘Hello world’‘.
- Number: covers integers and floating point numbers between (2^53 – 1) and -(2^53 – 1).
- boolean: a logical data type with values true Y false.
- BigInt: Represents integer data of arbitrary length.
- null: contains a null value.
- undefined: includes variables declared but not assigned.
- Symbol: Provides unique identifiers for objects.
- Object: for complex data structures written with curly braces. For example, {item: ‘Book’, information: ‘biography’}.
The primitive data types, which consist of all data types except objects, they can only store a single piece of data. Instead, the data type objects can contain a collection of values.
With JavaScript, users’ browsing experience can also be improved by using cookies. Creating, reading, and deleting cookies in JavaScript requires the document.cookie property, which allows you to get and set cookie values.
4. Game Development
JavaScript can help you build a game if used with HTML5 and an application programming interface (API) like . There are plenty of JavaScript-based game engines like , and Kiwi.js for rendering graphics, code reuse, and building cross-platform applications.
Some of the games made with JavaScript game engines are angry Birds, Wizard Y 2048.
Why is JavaScript good?
JavaScript has a number of advantages that make it a better option than its competitors. Here are some of the benefits of using JavaScript:
- simplicity: Having a simple structure makes JavaScript easier to learn and implement, and it also runs faster than other languages. Errors are also easy to spot and fix.
- Speed: JavaScript runs scripts directly in the web browser without first connecting to a server or using a compiler. Also, most major browsers allow JavaScript to compile code during program execution.
- Versatility: JavaScript is compatible with other languages such as PHP, Perl and Java. It also makes data science and machine learning accessible to developers.
- Popularity: There are many resources and forums available to help beginners with limited technical skills and knowledge of JavaScript.
- server load: Another advantage of operating on the client side is that JavaScript reduces the requests sent to the server. Data validation can be done through the web browser and updates only apply to certain sections of the web page.
- updates: The JavaScript development team and ECMA International continually update and create new frameworks and libraries, ensuring its relevance within the industry.
What are the disadvantages?
Like any other programming language, JavaScript has several limits that need to be considered. Some of the disadvantages of using JavaScript are listed below:
- Browser Compatibility: Different web browsers interpret JavaScript code differently, causing inconsistencies. Therefore, you should test your JavaScript script in all popular web browsers, including older versions, to avoid harming the user experience.
- Security: JavaScript code running on the client side is vulnerable to exploitation by irresponsible users.
- Depuration: Although some HTML editors support debugging, they are less efficient than other editors. Since browsers don’t display any warnings about errors, finding the problem can be challenging.
How does JavaScript work on your website?
The JavaScript is either embedded directly into a web page or referenced via a separate .js file. When a user visits that web page, their browser executes the script along with the HTML and CSS code, creating a functional page that is displayed through the browser tab.
The script is downloaded to the visitor’s machines and processed there. This differs from a server-side language, where the server processes the script before sending it to the browser. Upon encountering a block of JavaScript code, a web browser will process it from top to bottom.
How is it different from other programming languages?
The reason why JavaScript is one of the most popular programming languages of all is the fact that it is so versatile. Many developers consider it their main choice unless they need a specific feature that JavaScript doesn’t provide.
Let’s take a look at some of the most popular programming languages:
C# is an object-oriented language for building applications that run on the .NET ecosystem. It is statically typed, which means that its variables are identifiable at compile time. Unlike JavaScript, C# has operator overloading and conversions, allowing you to modify data types.
Java It is an object-oriented programming language designed to support large programs and applications. Unlike JavaScript, Java is strongly typed, which means that its variables must be bound to specific data types. Java requires a ‘just-in-time’ (JIT) compiler to run your script.
PHP is a server-side language often seen in PHP-based content management systems like WordPress. Its main purposes are to transfer information to and from a database, assemble HTML files, and keep track of sessions. Unlike JavaScript, PHP can directly access databases and accepts both lowercase and uppercase variables.
Ruby is a general-purpose programming language that supports metaprogramming, which means that it can analyze and modify itself and other programs. Its most popular framework, Ruby on Rails, allows you to build large web applications cost-effectively and quickly. The JavaScript implementation in Node.js…
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