Hello everyone, today we'll discuss the origin of JavaScript.
Firstly, we are going to know which language it is replaced within the Web world.
Java was in huge demand in the 1990s and just too big to learn. So, they came up to have a scripting companion for Java on the web, so here in Netscape communications, Eich Brendan (hired on contract for this project), they had 2 things in their minds.
- pick the right set of features.
- a direct line to those who made the calls.
About the 2nd point, because they had a limited time to take a lot of important decisions had to be made to make it available. In this context JavaScript, a.k.a Mocha was born. They integrated the working prototype into Netscape Communicator. In a short time, it is renamed to LiveScript.
In December 1995, Netscape Communications and Sun closed a deal: Mocha/LiveScript would be renamed JavaScript, which would be presented as a scripting language for small client-side tasks within the browser, while Java is promoted as a bigger, professional tool to develop rich web components.
As at that time, Netscape was quickly becoming the preferred browser, while the Internet Explorer was being developed by Microsoft. At that moment web standards were not strong. So, Microsoft implemented its own version of JavaScript called JScript.
The Netscape's implementation of JavaScript also received an internal name. The version released with Netscape Navigator 2.0 was known as Mocha. This new version of Netscape's JavaScript engine was called SpiderMonkey. It is still the name of the JavaScript engine found in Firefox, Netscape Navigator's grandson.
For several years, JScript and SpiderMonkey were the premier JavaScript engines. The features implemented by both, not always compatible. Now you understand why Internet Explorer was quirky in terms of JavaScript and Web world.
Major Design Features:
Although JavaScript was born in a hurry, several powerful features were part of it from the beginning. These features would define JavaScript as a language and would allow it to outgrow its walled garden despite its quirks.
"JavaScript is still one of the most successful languages ever, always bet on JavaScript."
Thanks for reading this, here in the next post we'll get to know about JavaScript language and its syntax.
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