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Technology: JavaScript is the most popular programming language in the world today, although it began as a complementary tool to Java.
The JavaScript programming language appeared 25 years ago. It has since become one of the most important parts of the web applications and browsers we use today.
JavaScript is the reference language for front-end development and gave birth to Microsoft’s Typescript, a superset of JavaScript with a more powerful optional type system for developers, which compiles to JavaScript when executed in the browser.
JavaScript and TypeScript are both compliant with ECMAScript, the standard for JavaScript and node.js, the runtime for running applications outside of the browser using Google’s powerful JavaScript V8 engine.
The origins of JavaScript
The impact of JavaScript on the web cannot be underestimated. The tech giants have largely supported the development of language. Besides Google’s V8, many open source projects, like Facebook’s React, or Google’s Angular, help deliver web applications to smartphones and desktops.
After Netscape and Sun Microsystems – where Java was created in May 1995 by James Gosling – announced JavaScript in December 1995, Microsoft chose Visual Basic (VB) as the standard for building web applications, using VB Script for its Internet browser. To explore. Oracle bought Sun Microsystems in 2008, in large part to get its hands on Java and its huge development ecosystem.
The largest developer of JavaScript is Brendan Eich, co-founder of Firefox publisher Mozilla and now head of Brave, one of the many browsers based on the Chromium Project. He was working at Netscape in 1995 when he created a Unix version of Mocha, the precursor of JavaScript.
JavaScript was originally designed as a “scripting language complementary to Java,” in which all sophisticated programming tasks are performed through Java applets, according to Brendan Eich. But web developers quickly realized that all they needed was JavaScript.
JavaScript is the most popular programming language in the world today. It is also mostly used in open source projects hosted on the GitHub code-sharing site. Meanwhile, the popularity of Java is declining.
But the future of JavaScript hasn’t always been as certain as it is today.
An unforeseen success story
Cory House, the JavaScript trainer on the Pluralsight site, remembers that this success story was not always obvious. “It was written in a matter of days and was initially only offered in one browser. Microsoft’s first browser came with its own version of JavaScript, called JScript. Today, JavaScript makes the world go round. It works on all computers. Every phone. TVs. Even some household appliances. Much of humanity uses JavaScript every day without realizing it, ”says the trainer.
“You can code in an object-oriented or functional style. And because JavaScript has a syntax similar to that of C, it seems familiar to people who have worked in other C-like languages. JavaScript remains “timeless”, continuously incorporating good ideas from other languages, “he adds. he.
Jonathan Mills, another trainer from Pluralsight, points out that JavaScript is no longer confined to the world of web browsers. “Today, JavaScript has grown into a massive ecosystem that has an impact in all areas of software development,” he notes.
Microsoft’s TypeScript has gained popularity on GitHub thanks to the existence of larger JavaScript projects, but it too could be dethroned by emerging technologies from Web Assembly, a specification and language managed by the World Wide Web. Consortium (W3C).
WebAssembly
Major web browsers now support WebAssembly or Wasm at a level similar to HTML, CSS, and JavaScript following the approval of the standard by the W3C in December 2019.
WebAssembly is a virtual instruction set architecture. This enables the creation of high-performance applications on the web and sets the stage for AI technologies that can be used for video and audio codecs, graphics, and cryptographic calculations. But, for now, Web Assembly has potential in targeted areas, says Jonathan Mills to ZDNet.
“When building a JavaScript application, JavaScript code is sent as is to the browser, then compiled and executed in the browser at runtime. WebAssembly shortens this process by compiling the code before deployment and hopefully gives a significant boost to the performance of the process, ”explains the latter.
“It’s incredibly useful for building complex web applications that require a lot of graphics power or calculations. However, the main hurdle right now is that the main languages associated with WebAssembly are Rust and C. JavaScript has taken off in part due to its ease of use and style for rapid development. These are not qualities of C or Rust. “
Source: ZDNet.com
