Revision 793645 of JavaScript

<p>JavaScript (JS) is a programming language mostly used client-side to dynamically script webpages, but often also {{Glossary("Server","server")}}-side.</p>

<p>JavaScript is not closely related to Java, but see <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Introduction#JavaScript_and_Java">here</a> for a comparison.</p>

<p>Conceived as a server-side language by Brendan Eich (a then-employee of Netscape Corporation), JavaScript soon came to Netscape&nbsp; Navigator 2.0 in September 1995. JavaScript enjoyed immediate success and {{glossary("Microsoft Internet Explorer", "Internet Explorer 3.0")}} introduced JavaScript support under the name JScript in August 1996.</p>

<p>In November 1996, Netscape began working with ECMA International to make JavaScript an industry standard. Since then, the standardized JavaScript is called ECMAScript and specified under ECMA-262, whose latest (fifth) edition is available in all major browsers. The sixth edition should be complete by mid-2015.</p>

<p>JavaScript is mostly used in the browser, enabling developers to manipulate webpage content through the {{Glossary("DOM")}}, manipulate data with {{Glossary("AJAX")}} and {{Glossary("IndexedDB")}}, draw graphics with {{Glossary("canvas")}}, interact with the device running the browser through various {{Glossary("API","APIs")}}, and so on. JavaScript is one of the world's most used languages, owing to the recent growth and performance improvement of {{Glossary("API","APIs")}} available in browsers.</p>

<p>Recently, JavaScript came back to the server with the successful <a href="https://nodejs.org/" rel="external">Node.js</a> platform, the most popular cross-platform JavaScript runtime environment outside the browser. Node.js allows you to use JavaScript as a scripting language to automate things on a PC and build fully functional&nbsp;{{Glossary("HTTP")}} and {{Glossary("Web Sockets")}} servers.</p>

<h2 id="Learn_more">Learn 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://nodeschool.io/#workshoppers">The "javascripting" workshop on NodeSchool</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>