JavaScript Introduction

In this article we'll see what is JavaScript ( JS ) and why it is at boom in tech world right now.

JavaScript Introduction

Welcome to the basics of the JavaScript introductory Article.

In this article and some future articles, I will try to cover the fundamentals of JavaScript that will be understandable by a complete beginner also and will make him a good JavaScript programmer.

So let's start from the very basics

JavaScript is the most popular and widely used programming language in the world. As per the StackOverflow survey, it stands above all of the other programming languages ( at the number 1 position ), and also big companies like Netflix, Facebook,Google all of them use JavaScript to develop their Applications.

As a JavaScript developer you can be able to earn up to 72,000 USD all over United States of America. You can work as a Frontend Developer, Backend Developer and even as a Full Stack Developer just by learning JavaScript.

What can you do with JavaScript??

Previously JavaScript was only used to develop the web pages interactive even it was also considered as a toy language

But wait a minute JavaScript was considered a toy language and it was not even developed for programing purposes??

So you read it right JavaScript was not developed as a Programming tool instead it was developed as a toy language.

But what is toy language??

Toy language is said to a language whenever a programming language is not capable of developing some high-end applications. As we all know that earlier JavaScript was only executable in browsers.

But after the huge investments by big companies like Google, Facebook and more it has become far more than anyone could even think of ( not even its developers thought that their developed language can go up this far ).

Today you can develop many things from JavaScript like

Complete web or Mobile Apps
Networking / Chat App
Command-line tools
Even Games also

Where does JavaScript Code runs??

JavaScript was previously designed to run only in browsers, Every browser has its JavaScript Engine that can execute the JavaScript Code.

Firefox has its JavaScript engine known as SpiderMonkey and Chrome also does have its separate JavaScript Engine known as v8.

In 2009, an Engineer named Rian took the Open Source JavaScript Engine of Chrome and embedded it inside a C++ program. That was the beginning of Modern JavaScript to which he called Node.

So Node is a C++ Program consisting of a JavaScript engine, with the help of Node we can execute the JavaScript code ( or logic ) outside of a browser.

What is the difference between ECMAScript and JavaScript??

ECMAScript is just a specification whereas JavaScript is a programing language that follows the specifications.

The first version of ECMAScript was released in 1997 and then from 2015 ECMAScript has been continuously working on the annual releases. In 2015 they released ES2015 which we also know by the name of ES6. This specification specified many new features for JavaScript which we will cover in a separate post.

So we have been done with the hell of the theory and history of JavaScript Now let's get our hands dirty by writing some code in JavaScript

JavaScript Coding

Step 1

Open up your favorite browser (preferred will be Chrome / Firefox / Edge [ as I am a Windows user So sorry to macOS user ])

Step 2

Right-click on any available free space and click on Inspect.

Step 3

Select the Console tab on the Inspector.

Step 4

write this code and see the magic of JavaScript.

console.log('Hello World');

you should get the output as

Hello World

Step 5

let's get another example

write this code

alert('Hello I am JavaScript Engine');

this time you will get a prompt saying that

Hello I am JavaScript Engine

Well so for a basic Introduction about JavaScript

We will cover all the JavaScript basics from function to Classes

from classes to spreaders and all

Conclusion

So as a Developer if you want a decent Job in a Front-end or Backend Developer position then you should consider learning JavaScript as it will also benefit you if you moved to develop mobile or web apps with React Native being the framework.

Thank you,

Hope to see you in the next post. Be sure to follow me on Dev and also check out my Blogging Web App developed with React JavaScript and Django ( Python Backend Framework ) named as Down the Code.

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JavaScript Introduction