JavaScript Unofficial JavaScript logo 2.svg Paradigm(s) Multi-paradigm: scripting, object-oriented (prototype-based), imperative, functional[1] Appeared in 1995; 18 years ago (1995) Designed by Brendan Eich Developer Netscape Communications Corporation, Mozilla Foundation Stable release 1.8.5[2] (March 22, 2011; 2 years ago (2011-03-22)) Typing discipline dynamic, duck Major implementations KJS, Rhino, SpiderMonkey, V8, Carakan, Chakra Influenced by Scheme, Self Influenced ActionScript, CoffeeScript, Dart, JScript .NET, Objective-J, QML, TIScript, TypeScript, Node.js JavaScript at Wikibooks JavaScript Javascript icon.svg Filename extension .js Internet media type application/javascript text/javascript (obsolete)[3] Uniform Type Identifier com.netscape.javascript-source[4] Type of format Scripting language Part of a series on JavaScript JavaScript syntax JavaScript library Unobtrusive JavaScript JavaScript engine Lists of Frameworks and Libraries Ajax frameworks JavaScript web application frameworks Comparison of JavaScript frameworks List of JavaScript libraries JavaScript unit testing frameworks JavaScript Object Notation See also ECMAScript v t e JavaScript (JS) is an interpreted computer programming language.[5] As part of web browsers, implementations allow client-side scripts to interact with the user, control the browser, communicate asynchronously, and alter the document content that is displayed.[5] It has also become common in server-side programming, game development and the creation of desktop applications. JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language with dynamic typing and has first-class functions. Its syntax was influenced by C. JavaScript copies many names and naming conventions from Java, but the two languages are otherwise unrelated and have very different semantics. The key design principles within JavaScript are taken from the Self and Scheme programming languages.[6] It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented,[7] imperative, and functional[1][8] programming styles. The application of JavaScript to uses outside of web pages—for example, in PDF documents, site-specific browsers, and desktop widgets—is also significant. Newer and faster JavaScript VMs and platforms built upon them (notably Node.js) have also increased the popularity of JavaScript for server-side web applications. JavaScript was formalized in the ECMAScript language standard and is primarily used as part of a web browser (client-side JavaScript). This enables programmatic access to computational objects within a host environment. HistoryEdit Birth at NetscapeEdit JavaScript was originally developed by Brendan Eich. While battling with Microsoft over the Web, Netscape considered their client-server offering a distributed OS, running a portable version of Sun Microsystems' Java. Because Java was a competitor of C++ and aimed at professional programmers, Netscape also wanted a lightweight interpreted language that would complement Java by appealing to nonprofessional programmers, like Microsoft's Visual Basic (see JavaScript and Java).[9] Although it was developed under the name Mocha, the language was officially called LiveScript when it first shipped in beta releases of Netscape Navigator 2.0 in September 1995, but it was renamed JavaScript[10] when it was deployed in the Netscape browser version 2.0B3.[11] The change of name from LiveScript to JavaScript roughly coincided with Netscape adding support for Java technology in its Netscape Navigator web browser. The final choice of name caused confusion, giving the impression that the language was a spin-off of the Java programming language, and the choice has been characterized by many as a marketing ploy by Netscape to give JavaScript the cachet of what was then the hot new web programming language.[12][13] There is a common misconception that the JavaScript language was influenced by Cmm (C-minus-minus), an earlier web page scripting language developed by Nombas.[14][15][16] Brendan Eich, however, had never heard of Cmm before he created LiveScript.[17] Nombas did pitch their embedded web page scripting to Netscape, though web page scripting was not a new concept, as shown by ViolaWWW.[18] Nombas later switched to offering JavaScript instead of Cmm in their ScriptEase product and was part of the TC39 group that standardized ECMAScript.[19][20] Server-side JavaScriptEdit Netscape introduced an implementation of the language for server-side scripting (SSJS) with Netscape Enterprise Server, first released in December, 1994 (soon after releasing JavaScript for browsers).[21][22] Since the mid-2000s, there has been a proliferation of server-side JavaScript implementations. Node.js is one recent notable example of server-side JavaScript being used in real-world applications.[23][24] Adoption by MicrosoftEdit JavaScript very quickly gained widespread success as a client-side scripting language for