Revision 650945 of JavaScript

<h2 id="Summary">Summary</h2>
<p>JavaScript (JS) is a programming language primarily used by {{Glossary("Browser", "web browsers")}} for dynamic scripting of web pages. It can also be used on the {{Glossary("Server","server")}} side to perform any sort of action.</p>
<h2 id="In_depth">In depth</h2>
<h3 id="A_bit_of_history">A bit of history</h3>
<p>JavaScript was originally developed by Brendan Eich when he was working for the Netscape Corporation. First it was a project to provide a new server side language, but was then made available for the first time in a browser in {{Glossary("Netscape Navigator","Netscape 2.0")}} in September 1995. JavaScript gained a quick widespread success and Microsoft introduced its own JavaScript support (JScript) in {{Glossary("MS Internet Explorer","Internet Explorer 3.0")}}, released in August 1996.</p>
<div class="note">
 <p><strong>Known fact:</strong> Has JavaScript anything to do with Java? Technically speaking, no, nothing at all. Java and JavaScript are two different programming languages with almost nothing in common. However, in the early days of JavaScript, when Netscape decided to ship it, they also shipped the support for Java applets within their {{Glossary("browser")}}. So, mainly for marketing reasons, what was previously named "LiveScript" was re-branded to "JavaScript".</p>
</div>
<p>In November 1996, Netscape started working with ECMA International to turn JavaScript into an industry standard. Since then, the standard version of JavaScript is known under the name ECMAScript and the specification is known as ECMA-262. The most well known (and currently mostly implemented) version of ECMAScript is ECMA-262 3rd edition. The current version, available in every modern {{Glossary("Browser", "web browser")}} is ECMA-262 5th edition. A 6th edition of ECMAScript is currently under heavy work and is expected to be finished in 2015.</p>
<h3 id="Usage">Usage</h3>
<p>JavaScript is mostly known to be used with {{Glossary("Browser", "web browsers")}}. In this context, it allows web developers to perform many different actions: Manipulating the page content through the {{Glossary("DOM")}}, manipulating data with {{Glossary("AJAX")}} and {{Glossary("IndexedDB")}}, creating graphics with {{Glossary("canvas")}}, interacting with the device running the browser through various {{Glossary("API","APIs")}}, etc.</p>
<p>The recent increase of {{Glossary("API","APIs")}} available in the browsers, as well as a huge improvement of their performance, makes JavaScript one of the most used languages in the world.</p>
<p>Recently, JavaScript came back to the server with the success of the <a href="https://nodejs.org/" rel="external">Node.js</a> platform. This platform provides a full JavaScript runtime environment outside the browser, which can be used on any computer platform (Linux, Mac OS and Windows). It is not the only one, but is currently most used to run JavaScript outside the browser context. It allows you to use JavaScript as a scripting language to automate things on a PC, as well as building fully functional&nbsp;{{Glossary("HTTP")}} and {{Glossary("Web Sockets")}} servers.</p>
<h2 id="Know_more">Know more</h2>
<h3 id="General_knowledge">General knowledge</h3>
<ul>
 <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaScript" rel="external">JavaScript on Wikipedia</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="Learning_JavaScript">Learning JavaScript</h3>
<ul>
 <li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide">The JavaScript guide on MDN</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.codecademy.com/tracks/javascript" rel="external">The JavaScript course on codecademy.com</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://ejohn.org/apps/learn/" rel="external">John Resig's Learning Advanced JavaScript</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="Technical_reference">Technical reference</h3>
<ul>
 <li><a href="https://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-262.htm" rel="external">The latest ECMAScript standard</a></li>
 <li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference">The JavaScript reference on MDN</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://eloquentjavascript.net/" rel="external">The <em>Eloquent JavaScript</em> book</a></li>
</ul>