[ Professor JavaScript ] Part 1: Introduction
It is additional online learning material for Professor JavaScript YouTube channel, Part 1: Introduction.
Professor JavaScript is a JavaScript online learning courses YouTube Channel. Students can learn how to develop codes with JavaScript from basic to advanced levels through the online courses in this YouTube channel.
It is additional online learning material for Professor JavaScript YouTube channel, Part 1: Introduction.
Introduction
A lot of people often confuse the differences between JavaScript and Java programming languages. Both programming languages are different completely in concept and design.
JavaScript is a high-level programming language which was invented by Brendan Eich in the year 1995. It became an ECMA standard in 1997. ECMA-262 is the official name of the standard. ECMAScript is the official name of the language. JavaScript is mostly coded on HTML files. Almost all web browsers have built-in JavaScript Engine that executes JavaScript codes on HTML files. “JavaScript” is a trademark of Oracle Corporation in the United States.
Java programming language is a high level, object-oriented, and cross platforms ( Java codes can run on many different operating system software such as Microsoft Windows, iOS, Linux, etc. ) programming language. It was invented by James Gosling at Sun Microsystem company in the year 1995. Java can be used to develop desktop software, cloud-based software, and mobile apps.
“Java is to JavaScript as ham is to hamster.”
[ Baruch Sadogursky in an interview with JAX London ]
JavaScript Evolution
The first original JavaScript appeared in December 1995. It was only a client-side programming language which had to be coded on HTML files and executable by web browsers software with built-in JavaScript Engine in it. JavaScript makes web pages to become interactive.
JavaScript supports event-driven, functional, and imperative programming styles. It has application programming interfaces (APIs) for working with text, dates, regular expressions, standard data structures, and the Document Object Model (DOM). It does not include any input/output (I/O), such as networking, storage, or graphics facilities, as the host environment (usually a web browser) provides those APIs.
Microsoft included JavaScript Engine in Internet Explorer web browser in 1996. The JavaScript is called JScript in Microsoft version.
In July 2008, many companies ( such as Mozilla, Adobe, Google, and Microsoft ) met together in a conference in Oslo. Those companies agreed to standardize JavaScript. The result of that conference was the ECMAScript 5 standard which was released in December 2009.
Node.js is first released in the year 2009. It is an open-source, cross-platform, JavaScript runtime environment (Framework) that executes JavaScript code outside a web browser. It enables developers to code JavaScript on the server-side to produce dynamic web page content before the page is sent to the user’s web browser. Node.js represents a “JavaScript everywhere” paradigm that unifies web-application development around a single programming language, rather than different languages for server- and client-side scripts.
From 2016 to 2019, a new version of the ECMAScript standard was published each year.
The current JavaScript ecosystem has many libraries and frameworks, established programming practices, and increased usage of JavaScript outside of web browsers, plus, with the rise of single-page applications and other JavaScript-heavy websites.
Today, Developers can develop mobile apps, desktop software, and cloud-based applications using JavaScript with Microsoft Visual Studio Code development tool.
Read also:
Tools for Practice
To practice JavaScript coding, we need a tool. We have two alternative tools from all other available tools, InfinityFree and w3schools.com.
On the w3school tool, access this page and click the “Try It Yourself” button. Your web browser will open a new tab ( the second picture ) to show a “Try It Editor” page. On that simple HTML editor, you can type your custom HTML and JavaScript codes and run it.
On the InfinityFree tool, you need to sign-up first. After you have signed up, you can upload your HTML ( with embedded JavaScript in it ) and separated JavaScript files to your directory. You can type your HTML and JavaScript with Notepad, GoogleDoc, Microsoft Word, or other word processor software. You can also test your custom HTML files and JavaScript in a live version by accessing the web page address directly on your web browser.
On our next online learning course parts, we will only use GoogleDoc and InfinityFree tool.
JavaScript source code: [ My First JavaScript Codes ]
Prerequisite Learning
It is also very important to learn these four subjects before you start to learn JavaScript coding:
- Advanced Mathematic
- Logic and Algorithm
- Object-Oriented Programming Concept
- HTML
Further Study Resources
To enrich your JavaScript knowledge, you can also learn from these additional learning resources:
This online learning course is written by Roby Widjaja ( the owner and content creator of Professor JavaScript YouTube Channel ).
