Why JavaScript?

“Any application that can be written in JavaScript, will eventually be written in JavaScript” — Jeff Atwood, Co-Founder of Stack Overflow

While our curriculum is JavaScript, we like to say that Code Chrysalis is officially language agnostic. This means that we welcome, push, and encourage students to use the skills that they learn with us to explore the vast technical landscape by themselves. We focus on building versatility in fundamentals and believe that JavaScript is the best language for us to deliver that mindset.

Why JavaScript? We get that question a lot. Here is a quick explanation of our thoughts.

JavaScript Now is NOT the JavaScript of Then

JavaScript has made incredible strides in the past decade. This misunderstood language suffered a lot in its infancy and developed a reputation as being tough to work with and nonsensical. However, the development of AJAX (along with a few other things) resulted in a renaissance period for JavaScript and the language has matured drastically.
The advent of Node has increased JavaScript’s reach even more and unleashed JavaScript from the confines of the browser.

You Cannot Avoid JavaScript!

You cannot avoid learning JavaScript if you are doing web application development. You can avoid using Ruby, you can avoid using PHP. But you cannot avoid using JavaScript.

All web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc.) have JavaScript interpreters built in. No other language has this kind of advantage and reach. It is unlikely this will change soon.

Low Entry Barriers for Beginners

It is significantly easier to start writing in JavaScript. As mentioned above, everyone is already carrying around a JavaScript engine in their computers — their browser. Thus, it is really easy to get set-up and quickly start writing JavaScript. All you need is a browser and a text editor (and the most popular ones, Sublime and Atom, are free and easy to use).

It’s an Inexpensive Language

Because JavaScript does not require any special compilers or editors, it is a much less expensive language and runs relatively fast and allows for client-side processing (saving on bandwidth and server load even more).

The JavaScript Community is Innovative, Active, and Competitive

In the past three years, the JavaScript landscape has completely matured and shifted towards becoming a truly full-stack language. There are constantly new, open-source frameworks and libraries being created all the time. A large portion of the most popular open-source repositories on GitHub are written in JavaScript. And JavaScript not only was the most popular language used on GitHub, it also rose by 97% from the year before. Below is a graph of the most active repositories on GitHub and JavaScript is the leader by far.

JavaScript Dominating for Foreseeable Future

We have said this many times: JavaScript is the language of the browser. Because the browser is such a core part of our daily tech lives, we will unlikely be moving away from browsers (and hence, JavaScript) in the near future.
In addition, JavaScript is supported by a broad and powerful group of companies — it is not controlled by a single person or company and that makes it a lot more stable and relevant.

There’s a Trend Towards Web Apps and Mobile Apps

Browsers are getting more and more powerful and bandwidth is getting cheaper and more reliable. Focus is moving away from native software applications and towards web and mobile applications, especially as the possible combinations of operating systems, screen sizes, and devices are getting more and more numerous.

Resources

Some more links that explain JavaScript. If you are interested in learning how to program, we highly encourage you to apply.

• JavaScript: The World’s Most Misunderstood Programming Languageby Douglas Crockford
• Stack Overflow Insights
• GitHub Octoverse
• Quora: Why is JavaScript so popular?
• The Principle of Least Power by Jeff Atwood
• Why JavaScript: If You Could Learn Just One Programming Language, It Should Be JavaScript by Aziz Ali

Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments!