- JavaScript is a lightweight, interpreted programming language designed for creating network-centric applications. It is complementary to and integrated with HTML and Java.
- JavaScript is widely used for client-side validation, manipulating HTML pages, user notifications, and back-end data loading to provide dynamic and interactive features to web pages.
- Popular JavaScript frameworks include jQuery, Angular, React, and Node.js which is used to build fast and scalable network applications and web servers.
2. Introduction
■ JavaScript is a lightweight, interpreted programming language. It is designed
for creating network-centric applications. It is complimentary to and integrated
with Java. JavaScript is very easy to implement because it is integrated with
HTML. It is open and cross-platform.
3. Why to Learn Javascript
■ Javascript is a MUST for students and working professionals to become a great Software
Engineer specially when they are working in Web Development Domain. I will list down some of
the key advantages of learning Javascript:
• Javascript is the most popular programming language in the world and that makes it a
programmer’s great choice. Once you learnt Javascript, it helps you developing great front-end
as well as back-end softwares using different Javascript based frameworks like jQuery,
Node.JS etc.
• Javascript is everywhere, it comes installed on every modern web browser and so to learn
Javascript you really do not need any special environment setup. For example Chrome, Mozilla
Firefox , Safari and every browser you know as of today, supports Javascript.
• Javascript helps you create really beautiful and crazy fast websites. You can develop your
website with a console like look and feel and give your users the best Graphical User
Experience.
• JavaScript usage has now extended to mobile app development, desktop app development,
and game development. This opens many opportunities for you as Javascript Programmer.
• Due to high demand, there is tons of job growth and high pay for those who know JavaScript.
You can navigate over to different job sites to see what having JavaScript skills looks like in the
job market.
• Great thing about Javascript is that you will find tons of frameworks and Libraries already
developed which can be used directly in your software development to reduce your time to
market.
4. Hello World using Javascript
■ Just to give you a little excitement about Javascript programming, I'm going to
give you a small conventional Javascript Hello World program, You can try it
using Demo link
There are many useful Javascript frameworks and libraries available:
•Angular React
•jQuery Vue.js
•Ext.js Ember.js
•Meteor Mithril
•Node.js Polymer
•Aurelia Backbone.js
•It is really impossible to give a complete list of all the available Javascript frameworks and libraries.
The Javascript world is just too large and too much new is happening.
5. Applications of Javascript Programming
■ As mentioned before, Javascript is one of the most widely used programming languages (Front-end as well
as Back-end). It has it's presence in almost every area of software development. I'm going to list few of them
here:
• Client side validation - This is really important to verify any user input before submitting it to the server and
Javascript plays an important role in validting those inputs at front-end itself.
• Manipulating HTML Pages - Javascript helps in manipulating HTML page on the fly. This helps in adding and
deleting any HTML tag very easily using javascript and modify your HTML to change its look and feel based on
different devices and requirements.
• User Notifications - You can use Javascript to raise dynamic pop-ups on the webpages to give different types
of notifications to your website visitors.
• Back-end Data Loading - Javascript provides Ajax library which helps in loading back-end data while you are
doing some other processing. This really gives an amazing experience to your website visitors.
• Presentations - JavaScript also provides the facility of creating presentations which gives website look and
feel. JavaScript provides RevealJS and BespokeJS libraries to build a web-based slide presentations.
• Server Applications - Node JS is built on Chrome's Javascript runtime for building fast and scalable network
applications. This is an event based library which helps in developing very sophisticated server applications
including Web Servers.
■ This list goes on, there are various areas where millions of software developers are happily using Javascript to
develop great websites and others softwares.
6. Audience
This tutorial has been prepared for JavaScript beginners to help them understand
the basic functionality of JavaScript to build dynamic web pages and web
applications.
Prerequisites
For this Javascript tutorial, it is assumed that the reader have a prior
knowledge of HTML coding. It would help if the reader had some prior exposure
to object-oriented programming concepts and a general idea on creating online
applications.
7. What is JavaScript ?
■ JavaScript is a dynamic computer programming language. It is lightweight and most
commonly used as a part of web pages, whose implementations allow client-side script to
interact with the user and make dynamic pages. It is an interpreted programming language
with object-oriented capabilities.
■ JavaScript was first known as LiveScript, but Netscape changed its name to JavaScript,
possibly because of the excitement being generated by Java. JavaScript made its first
appearance in Netscape 2.0 in 1995 with the name LiveScript. The general-purpose core of
the language has been embedded in Netscape, Internet Explorer, and other web browsers.
■ The ECMA-262 Specification defined a standard version of the core JavaScript language.
• JavaScript is a lightweight, interpreted programming language.
• Designed for creating network-centric applications.
• Complementary to and integrated with Java.
• Complementary to and integrated with HTML.
• Open and cross-platform
8. Client-Side JavaScript
■ Client-side JavaScript is the most common form of the language. The script should
be included in or referenced by an HTML document for the code to be interpreted by
the browser.
■ It means that a web page need not be a static HTML, but can include programs that
interact with the user, control the browser, and dynamically create HTML content.
■ The JavaScript client-side mechanism provides many advantages over traditional
CGI server-side scripts. For example, you might use JavaScript to check if the user
has entered a valid e-mail address in a form field.
■ The JavaScript code is executed when the user submits the form, and only if all the
entries are valid, they would be submitted to the Web Server.
■ JavaScript can be used to trap user-initiated events such as button clicks, link
navigation, and other actions that the user initiates explicitly or implicitly.
9. Advantages of JavaScript
■ The merits of using JavaScript are −
• Less server interaction − You can validate user input before sending the page off to the
server. This saves server traffic, which means less load on your server.
• Immediate feedback to the visitors − They don't have to wait for a page reload to see if they
have forgotten to enter something.
• Increased interactivity − You can create interfaces that react when the user hovers over
them with a mouse or activates them via the keyboard.
• Richer interfaces − You can use JavaScript to include such items as drag-and-drop
components and sliders to give a Rich Interface to your site visitors.
Limitations of JavaScript
We cannot treat JavaScript as a full-fledged programming language. It lacks the following important
features −
•Client-side JavaScript does not allow the reading or writing of files. This has been kept for security
reason.
•JavaScript cannot be used for networking applications because there is no such support available.
•JavaScript doesn't have any multi-threading or multiprocessor capabilities.
Once again, JavaScript is a lightweight, interpreted programming language that allows you to build
interactivity into otherwise static HTML pages.
10. JavaScript Development Tools
■ One of major strengths of JavaScript is that it does not require expensive
development tools. You can start with a simple text editor such as Notepad. Since it
is an interpreted language inside the context of a web browser, you don't even need
to buy a compiler.
■ To make our life simpler, various vendors have come up with very nice JavaScript
editing tools. Some of them are listed here −
• Microsoft FrontPage − Microsoft has developed a popular HTML editor called
FrontPage. FrontPage also provides web developers with a number of JavaScript
tools to assist in the creation of interactive websites.
• Macromedia Dreamweaver MX − Macromedia Dreamweaver MX is a very popular
HTML and JavaScript editor in the professional web development crowd. It provides
several handy prebuilt JavaScript components, integrates well with databases, and
conforms to new standards such as XHTML and XML.
• Macromedia HomeSite 5 − HomeSite 5 is a well-liked HTML and JavaScript editor
from Macromedia that can be used to manage personal websites effectively.
11. Where is JavaScript Today ?
■ The ECMAScript Edition 5 standard will be the first update to be released in
over four years. JavaScript 2.0 conforms to Edition 5 of the ECMAScript
standard, and the difference between the two is extremely minor.
■ The specification for JavaScript 2.0 can be found on the following
site: http://www.ecmascript.org/
■ Today, Netscape's JavaScript and Microsoft's JScript conform to the
ECMAScript standard, although both the languages still support the features
that are not a part of the standard.