Want to know what is JavaScript used for? It is one of the most popular programming languages that can be used for both server-side and client-side development. JS allows you to create interactive web pages. It is among the trio of technologies - HTML, CSS, and JS - that powers the modern web. HTML and CSS provide structure and style to your web page, but JS adds an interactive element to your web page that keeps the visitor engaged. There are many common examples that you might use in daily life, like the Amazon search box. In this article, we will discuss the uses, advantages, disadvantages, and more of JS.
What is JavaScript Used For?
With the help of JS, you can turn a static page into an interactive page. It will allow you to add behavior to your webpage. You can consider it to be the third layer after HTML and CSS.
History
We will discuss how JS has evolved over the years. It was all started in 1993 with the introduction of the first commercial browser by Netscape Communications Corporation. It was designed to improve information sharing.
- To expand it further, Netscape Communications Corporation created JavaScript, whose goal was to create dynamic web pages.
- In 1995, Brendan Eich developed the web scripting language.
- Netscape submitted JS to ECMA International in 1996, and the official release was made in 1997.
- In 1996, ECMAScript became the official name for the language.
- After 2015, the ECMAScript is named by year. For example, ECMAScript 2015.
- ES6 (ECMAScript 2015) comes with support for most browsers.
- ES7 (ECMAScript 2016) comes with Chrome and Opera support.
- From 2016 to 2019, a new version of ECMAScript was published every year.
- New updates are still going on.
Advantages
- It allows you to extend the interactive features and interfaces to web applications, including animations, videos, audios, and other modern web experiences.
- It works faster as it is executed at the client’s device rather than the website’s server, and it will minimize the server requests.
- Today, almost all browsers come with JIT compilation for JS, which reduces the time for code compilation before executing it.
- It is easy to add JS code to the webpage. You can use JS for different applications as it shows support for languages like PHP and Perl.
- The code is easy to learn, handle, and debug due to its flexible syntax and can be used inside scripts of other languages.
Disadvantages
No programming language is perfect, and JS is no exception. Below are some disadvantages of using the popular programming language:
- The code is visible in the browser as the code of JavaScript is added explicitly to the web pages, and it can be reused.
- The code can be vulnerable to malicious code injection and cross-site scripting attacks. It allows hackers to alter the code of the web page to make them function differently. You may not always detect the attack.
- If the user has disabled the JS extension for the browser, then the code will not work.
- It does not work with old browsers.
Working of JavaScript On Your Webpage
Whenever you load a webpage in your browser, code will run in the execution environment. It takes the code as input and results in a webpage. Then JS will modify HTML and CSS code to enhance the user interface dynamically. The code should be executed in the same order in which it appears on the page; otherwise, the page will get impacted.
JavaScript Tools, Frameworks, and More
If you are learning any language, then it is a good practice to know about its tools, frameworks, IDEs, and existing libraries. Using all these, you can excel and can work on improving the webpage.
- Framework - It is a platform that offers a standard way to develop applications. JS has many popular frameworks, including Node, Electron, Angular, and BackBone.
- Library - It is a collection of code that offers you different functionality to perform some specific tasks. JavaScript has many libraries like jQuery, React, Socket.io, and so on.
- Tools - They provide assistance in order to make the application smooth and efficient. JSLint, Mocha, and Browserify are some of the popular JS tools.
- IDE - An IDE is a development environment that allows you to generate native code as well as managed code. Some commonly used IDEs for JavaScript are WebStorm, Atom, Microsoft Visual Studio, and NetBeans.
Where to Use JavaScript?
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To create web and mobile applications
Most of the developers use JavaScript frameworks to develop and build mobile as well as web applications. These frameworks come with JS code libraries that allow the developers to use pre-written code to create a more interactive webpage. Some of the popular JS frameworks are React, React Native, Angular, and Vue. Many companies like LinkedIn, PayPal, and Uber are using Node.js, which is a JS runtime environment.
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To add interactive behavior to your webpage
Once you are into JS, there is no limit to what you can do with it. There are many features that you can add to your webpages to make them interactive for your customers and visitors. Here are some examples that you can consider:
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- Changing button colors on hover,
- Zoom in and out with a click or mouse hover,
- Displaying animations,
- Using different menus,
- Including image carousel,
- Embedding audio and video within your webpage.
These are a few examples, but you can explore more options and features that will make the website more attractive.
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To build web server and server applications
The use of JS is not only limited to the development of websites and applications. You can create simple web servers and develop the complete back-end infrastructure with the help of Node.js. Once you are done with the server creation, you can then deploy server applications using JavaScript.
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To develop browser games
With the help of the popular programming language, you can even develop browser games. It has the EaselJS library that provides an easy solution to work with rich graphics to make your game more interactive. The library also has 2D bitmaps that allow rendering the target for transformation.
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To create smartwatch applications
It has covered almost every field for the development of applications. JS provides you with the Pebble JS library that facilitates smartwatch application development. But it works for the applications that will use the internet to work. You can create applications for several smartwatches using JavaScript.
Conclusion
Today, more than 32,000+ developers are actively supporting the use of JavaScript. Also, more than 94% of the websites work on JS. We have seen tremendous growth in the use of JS over the years. It has changed the way we interact with the web. It is a universal language and has set the standards for interaction on the web. If you want to enter IT, then learning JS can be the easiest way. It has a special syntax that is easy to learn, understand, and implement. Thus, it can be the base language to learn any other language. Moreover, JS works well with other languages and can be easily integrated with the same. So get started with JavaScript now and take off your web development career. If you liked our article, please comment. Your suggestions are most welcome.
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