What is JavaScript and why is it so popular? Well, JavaScript is a programming language widely used in the development of websites. You can build basic websites just using HTML and CSS, but by adding in some JavaScript you can implement 'client-side' interactions and can make your website more dynamic. At it's inception, JavaScript was not widely used, but has since grown to be an extremely important aspect of web development, mostly for its capabilities and ease of use.
JavaScript allows for interactions between a websites user and the website itself, via the web browser (client-side interactions). Think of your favorite website that allows for user interaction. The information you input must be stored somehow, right? There need to be calculations taking place based off of your inputs that will result in an output. Functionality like this can be handled using JavaScript. Because of this, JavaScript has become an essential tool in building dynamic websites that rely on user interaction and inputs.
The language is also used for making a website less static, and increasing a website's performance. A lot of the visual elements of a website that make it look cool, modern, and sleek are a product of JavaScript. Some examples include:
- slideshows
- webgames, like this one: Multeor
- menus that appear when the user hovers over an element of the website.
- animations, with the help of jQuery
- if there are forms on your website that the user is expected to fill out, with JavaScript the user inputs can be validated right in the web broswer, with immediate feedback. This allows for quicker UX because it negates the need to first send the information to the website's server for validation.
But beyond the reasons that allow for great user experience, JavaScript is widely used because of how easy it is to work with as a developer. The language itself isn't too difficult to learn, and there are a lot tools available to facilitate coding with JavaScript. Notably, when visiting any webpage on most browsers you can toggle the console, which will show you the JavaScript written for the site and allows you to edit it live to see the changes. Try it out!
Despite all it's positives, there are some limitations to JavaScript. Mostly that it's emphasis is client-side interactions. Without getting too technical, basically JavaScript is great at fetching information from servers, but is not great at running on the servers themselves and storing / managing information. There is still a reliance on other programming languages to manage server side interactions.
All in all, it is clear that JavaScript is the dominating programming language for building great websites (in parellel with HTML and CSS). It is a versatile, easy to use language, and its functionality is only increasing.
Copyright: Gary Hammell 2014