What is JavaScript and how it is useful for Websites?

What is JavaScript and how it is useful for Websites?

In my teaching and industry familiarity of many years in JavaScript I have observed a very common question in many students that what is the use of JavaScript in today’s websites?. So I determined to convolute a most common and less clear side of JavaScript in this post.

What is JavaScript?

JavaScript is a client side programming language and very useful for adding advanced interactivity to any website. ECMAScript is the standard of JavaScript and it is super tool to add behaviors to any website and web application. It is an object oriented language that supports prototypical inheritance.

JavaScript is completely different from Java language. JavaScript is only for website related tasks while Java is a good tool for developing software, web applications, and desktop applications etc.

Let’s discuss how to learn JavaScript.

Dividing JavaScript for Easy Learning

Generally I divide JavaScript into 3 major parts when I teach to my students because it helps in understanding it and separates basic JavaScript, advanced JavaScript, and DHTML clearly.

1. Core JavaScript

Core means basics of JavaScript and it is the most important part of it. In this section I teach few important points like variables, scope, function, arguments, loops, statements, expressions, operators, conditionals, data types, literals, Array, Objects, Date & Time etc.

2. Advanced JavaScript

This is the JavaScript’s advanced part where a lot of high level discussion happens like Object Oriented JavaScript or OOJSAjax, JSON, XML, XML DOM etc

3. DHTML or Dynamic HTML

DHTML term comes when we use JavaScript to make HTML interactive. So it needs to know a third layer that works between JavaScript and HTML and i.e. HTML DOM. HTML DOM provides a variety of methods and properties to work JavaScript with HTML and CSS. Events, Navigator, History, Location, Screen, Window, Cookie are few most common topics those I will discuss in this section of JavaScript.

Use of JavaScript in Web Designing and Web Development

JavaScript in Web Designing or UI Development

Undoubtedly JavaScript is most important element of websites, it has been dramatically must have element of a web page. Giving you a list of some common features to prove its importance here i.e. form validation, canvas animation, geolocation, local storage, session storage, drag and drop, drop down menu, accordion panel, tabbed panel, pop ups, light boxes, image gallery, image slider, scrollable images and text are the few JavaScript examples.

JavaScript in Web Development

Let me explain the meaning of web development here first. Web development means a dynamic website or a website with server side program and database like PHP and MySQL for example e-commerce, social media, social sharing, CMSs and various other applications are few of the many examples. These all applications use Ajax, shopping cart, dynamic profiling, highly interactive forms, drag & drop utilities all over.

JavaScript in Server-side

Although JavaScript is a client side language yet it is very popular on server side too. Netscape launched a server side JavaScript or SSJS named Livewire but now days there are many libraries available like Node.js. Node.js is very useful implementation of JavaScript to develop server side applications.

Summary of the Use of JavaScript

JavaScript is not limited to client side only today it has vast object oriented scope so that we can work with advanced web applications with reusable code. JavaScript has various frameworks like jQueryAngularJS, MooTools, Prototype, Backbone.js, Node.js etc.

Thanks

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