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.
JavaScript is a cross-platform, object-oriented scripting language used to make webpages interactive (e.g., having complex animations, clickable buttons, popup menus, etc.). There are also more advanced server side versions of JavaScript such as Node.js, which allow you to add more functionality to a website than downloading files. Inside a host environment (for example, a web browser), JavaScript can be connected to the objects of its environment to provide programmatic control over them.
Features Of JavaScript
JavaScript language consists of several different features. Some of the general JavaScript features are as follows –
1. Validating User’s Input
JavaScript is very useful while using forms. It has the capability to validate user input for errors and also saves time. If the user leaves a required field empty or the information is incorrect, JavaScript checks for them before sending the data over to the server.
2. Simple Client-side Calculations
Since JavaScript is a client-side technology, it can perform basic calculations on the browser. The browser does not need to ask server time for every task. This is especially helpful when a user needs to perform these calculations repeatedly. In these cases, connecting to the server would take a lot more time than performing the actual calculations.
3. Greater Control
JavaScript provides greater control to the browser rather than being completely dependent on the web servers. JavaScript provides various browsers with additional functionalities that help reduce server load and network traffic.
4. Platform Independent
Since browsers interpret JavaScript, it solves the problem of compilation and compatibility. Thus it can run on Windows, Macintosh, and other Netscape-supported systems. Also, it is possible to embed them in any other script like HTML that keeps JavaScript into use.
5. Handling Dates and Time
Unlike other programming languages, JavaScript has built-in functions to determine the date and time. Thus it is very easy to code only by using methods like .getDate().
6. Generating HTML Content
JavaScript has very handy features to dynamically generate HTML content for the web. It allows us to add text, links, images, tables, etc after an event occurrence (eg — mouse click).
7. Detecting the User’s Browser and OS
JavaScript is very capable in the detection of the user’s browser and OS information. Though JavaScript runs on every platform, there may occur a situation where we need the user’s browser before processing. This can be helpful for writing code that results in different outputs in different browsers.
Applications and Uses of JavaScript
An HTML page is a static one and without JavaScript it would be static still. JavaScript can make the website more interactive and user- friendliness of JavaScript helps easy navigation of the website and helps designers to guide the visitors with additional information or guide them through walkthroughs. Visual effects can also be achieved with JavaScript. JavaScript can be used effectively to create special effects like rollover for images.
JavaScript not only supports web pages but also supports external applications like PDF documents, running widgets, supporting for flash applications etc. JavaScript has emerged in web industry like a boom and if you look at the current web scenario there are no web technologies that are not using JavaScript.
JavaScript stands unique as it brings out all the special functionalities in the client’s browser instead of the site’s server. The role of JavaScript can never be denied as JavaScript can act as both object oriented programming and procedural language.
Frameworks of JavaScript
JS frameworks are JavaScript programming libraries that have pre-written code to use for standard programming functions and tasks. It’s a framework to create websites or web applications around. Frameworks are more adaptable for website design and most website developers prefer it. Let’s take a look at the best JS Frameworks.
1. ReactJS
The current leader in the JavaScript UI framework field is React. At first, Facebook developers started working on it to simplify their work. The application called Facebook Ads was growing extremely fast, which meant complicated management and support. As a result, the team started building a library to help them with efficiency. They had an early prototype before 2011 and, two years later, the library was open-source and available to the public. A lot of business giants are currently using it: AirBNB, PayPal, Netflix, etc.
2. Angular
Angular is one of the most powerful and open-source JavaScript frameworks. Google operates this framework and is designed to use it to develop a Single Page Application (SPA). This development framework is known primarily because it gives developers the best conditions to combine JavaScript with HTML and CSS. Over half a million websites, such as google.com, youtube.com, etc., use Angular.
3. Vue.js
Vue is an open-source JavaScript framework for creating a creative UI. The integration with Vue in projects using other JavaScript libraries is simplified because it is designed to be adaptable. More than 36,000 websites are currently using Vue. Companies like Stackoverflow, PlayStation, etc. rely on Vue for their UI websites.
4. Node.js
Node.js is an open-source, server-side platform built on the Google Chrome JavaScript Engine. The number of websites using NodeJS has increased by 84,000. It is one of the most downloaded, cross-platform runtime environments for running JavaScript code. Node.js is an asynchronous, single-threaded, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient. The Node.js package ecosystem, npm, is also the largest open-source library ecosystem in the world.
5. Ember.js
Ember.js is an open-source JavaScript framework that was originally released by Yehuda Katz in 2011. It was initially known as SproutCore 2.0 before it became known as Ember.js. Work on the Ember framework started in 2011 and version 1.0 was released two years later. Instead of one company supporting the project, Ember has many supporters who are usually users of the framework, such as LinkedIn and Yahoo.
How Javascript is used by Google
JavaScript is an important part of the web platform because it provides many features that turn the web into a powerful application platform. Making your JavaScript-powered web applications discoverable via Google Search can help you find new users and re-engage existing users as they search for the content your web app provides. While Google Search runs JavaScript with an evergreen version of Chromium, there are a few things that you can optimize.
How Googlebot processes JavaScript
Googlebot processes JavaScript web apps in three main phases:
- Crawling
- Rendering
- Indexing
Googlebot crawls, renders, and indexes a page.
When Googlebot fetches a URL from the crawling queue by making an HTTP request it first checks if you allow crawling. Googlebot reads the robots.txt file. If it marks the URL as disallowed, then Googlebot skips making an HTTP request to this URL and skips the URL.
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