Why JavaScript is sexy?

JavaScript forms one part of the holy trinity of coding languages for web developers and is ­– in our opinion — the most interesting and exciting of the three. It’s also in high demand, which makes it perfect for people who want to add a valuable skill to their resume and have fun in the process.

In fact, there are no many reasons why you should learn JavaScript that its appeal is obvious: if programming languages were people, JavaScript would be the sexy one.

You probably already know about the other two main coding languages that web developers use. The HTML describes the content that goes on the web page: the titles, text, and images. The CSS is used to deal with the layout and design, handling fonts, styles, and locations.

So where does JavaScript come in?

HTML and CSS alone just make static websites that a user can’t interact with — they’re the boring friends that make JavaScript really stand out. JavaScript adds the interactivity that these languages act.

What is JavaScript?

JavaScript governs how web pages behave when the user interacts with them; without it, web browsers wouldn’t be able to do anything more than just load documents. JavaScript is used to include functionality such as videos, animations, analytics, live news feeds, and advertising. Most of the biggest websites in the world use JavaScript, including Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Wikipedia.

JavaScript Improves Functionality and User Experience

When a website uses JavaScript, the files are sent with the HTML and CSS to your computer, which enables the web page to respond to your actions without sending a request to the server and reloading the page.

Client-side scripts like JavaScript (other examples include VBScript and ActionScript) have many advantages:

ü Increased interactivity with an immediate response.

ü Can be used to improve the usability of websites.

ü Give developers more control over their website.

ü Load quickly and provide instant feedback.

For example, if you’ve ever filled in a contact form online you’ll probably have seen JavaScript in action. In most forms, if you fail to put in the right number of digits in the box for your telephone number, you get an error. When you see this error pop-up before you’ve pressed the ‘send’ button, that’s JavaScript at work. Without it, you’d have to fill in the form, send it off to the server, then wait for the server to message back to tell you you’ve got it wrong.

JavaScript is Highly Versatile

As if making websites exciting weren’t enough, JavaScript can also be used server-side in the form of node.js. Node.js is an open-source platform which can be used for creating network applications. It’s popular because it is very fast, highly-scalable, and can be hosted almost anywhere.

Businesses love it because many developers already know JavaScript, so it’s easy for them to transition to using Node.js. Using one skill (JavaScript) for both client-side and server-side development enhances communication and reduces the need to hire extra developers.

Additionally, newer technologies such as React Native, allow users to build native mobile apps using JavaScript — is there anything it can’t do?

JavaScript Developers Are in High Demand

With this sort of functionality and advantages, it’s no surprise that JavaScript is highly popular. In fact, it’s the most popular programming language in the world! It’s not just the big websites that use JavaScript either: almost every website uses it in some way. w3techs calculate that 94.7% of all websites on the internet use JavaScript.

The Stack Overflow Developer Survey, an annual survey of about 50,000 programmers, found that more than 55.4% of respondents used JavaScript, making is the most popular programming language (followed by SQL in second place, used by 49.1%, and Java in third place, with 36.3%).

The survey found JavaScript is used by:

· 85.3% of full-stack developers.

· 90.5% of front-end developers.

· 54.5% of back-end developers.

For budding developers, this popularity translates into job opportunities — and plenty of them. Gooroo, the skills and salary analytics platform, reports that there are approximately 13,000 jobs advertised each month that ask for JavaScript — and that’s just in the US. Globally, that number reaches 28,500 jobs advertised each month.

All these JavaScript developers are well-paid too, with the average salary in the US sitting comfortably at $95,000 per year. The global average is a not-too-shabby $80,000 per year.

Additionally, the Global Hiring Demand Report by CED shows that JavaScript is currently the hardest IT skill to hire for in the US, UK, Germany, Japan, and China. Businesses are struggling to find the skilled JavaScript developers they need, which means more opportunities for you if you’re serious about honing their JavaScript skills.

How Can You Learn JavaScript with SoloLearn?

Do you want to take advantage of some of these opportunities? SoloLearn can help! The SoloLearn JavaScript tutorial covers 51 lessons and 147 quizzes to help you learn the fundamentals of coding with JavaScript.

The course covers:

· Basic concepts including variables, data types, and operators.

· Conditionals and loops.

· Functions and objects.

· The Document Object Model (DOM) and events.

By the end of the tutorials you will be able to use JavaScript to make your website more interactive, will have added a valuable skill to your resume, and, of course, you’ll have had fun!

Take your first steps in JavaScript today by downloading the SoloLearn App.