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 was invented by Brendan Eich in 1995, and became an ECMA standard in 1997.
- ECMA-262 is the official name of the standard. ECMAScript is the official name of the language.
- The general-purpose core of the language has been embedded in Netscape, Internet Explorer, and other web browsers.
Advantages of JavaScript
1. Speed
Since JavaScript is an ‘interpreted’ language, it reduces the time required by other programming languages like Java for compilation. JavaScript is also a client-side script, speeding up the execution of the program as it saves the time required to connect to the server.
2. Simplicity
JavaScript is easy to understand and learn. The structure is simple for the users as well as the developers. It is also very feasible to implement, saving developers a lot of money for developing dynamic content for the web.
3. Popularity
Since all modern browsers support JavaScript, it is seen almost everywhere. All the famous companies use JavaScript as a tool including Google, Amazon, PayPal, etc.
4. Interoperability
JavaScript works perfect with other programming languages and therefore numerous developers prefer it in developing many applications. We can embed it into any webpage or inside the script of another programming language.
5. Server Load
As JavaScript operates on the client-side, data validation is possible on the browser itself rather than sending it off to the server. In case of any discrepancy, the whole website needs not to be reloaded. The browser updates only the selected segment of the page.
6. Rich Interfaces
JavaScript provides various interfaces to developers for creating catchy webpages. Drag and drop components or sliders may give a rich interface to the webpages. This leads to improved user-interactivity on the webpage.
7. Extended Functionality
Third-party add-ons like Greasemonkey (a Mozilla Firefox extension) allow the developers to add snippets of predefined code in their code to save time and money. These add-ons help the developers build JavaScript applications a lot faster and with much more ease than other programming languages.
8. Versatility
JavaScript is now capable of front-end as well as back-end development. Back-end development uses NodeJS while many libraries help in front-end development like AngularJS, ReactJS, etc.
Disadvantages of JavaScript
1. Client-side Security
Since the JavaScript code is viewable to the user, others may use it for malicious purposes. These practices may include using the source code without authentication. Also, it is very easy to place some code into the site that compromises the security of data over the website.
2. Browser Support
The browser interprets JavaScript differently in different browsers. Thus, the code must be run on various platforms before publishing. The older browsers don’t support some new functions and we need to check them as well.
3. Lack of Debugging Facility
Though some HTML editors support debugging, it is not as efficient as other editors like C/C++ editors. Also, as the browser doesn’t show any error, it is difficult for the developer to detect the problem.
4. Single Inheritance
JavaScript only supports single inheritance and not multiple inheritance. Some programs may require this object-oriented language characteristic.
5. Rendering Stopped
A single code error can stop the rendering of the entire JavaScript code on the website. To the user, it looks as if JavaScript was not present. However, the browsers are extremely tolerant of these errors.
