Getting Started With Javascript
When you are learning to code, the first two elements you’ll likely learn about are HTML and CSS. Together, these form the backbone of any website and digital tool. But if you want your content to be dynamic, you need something else: javascript.
JavaScript (or JS) is a scripting language that enables developers to add almost endless dynamic options and objects to websites and web applications. It is client-side, meaning it runs directly in a browser, making it possible to update and display real-time information without reloading the page. This is why many websites with stock or crypto price tickers, live video feeds, and chat windows are powered by js.
javascript is also an object-oriented language, allowing functions to be passed as arguments and returned from other functions. This allows for more advanced functionality, including asynchronous programming, where operations like reading files or querying databases run in the background and can trigger callbacks or promises when complete. This is useful for creating responsive websites and applications that load quickly and work seamlessly.
There are a number of ways to get started with javascript, but you will need a text editor and a web browser. Most computers have both of these programs installed already, so you’ll be able to start writing and seeing the results right away. Once you are familiar with these basics, you can explore the more advanced features of javascript.
In addition to its object-oriented model, javascript supports procedural, imperative and functional programming styles. It is a loosely typed language, which means that variables do not have to be declared ahead of time and can change their type at runtime. This makes it easier to write cleaner, more modular code. It is also a dynamic language, allowing for the use of a variety of operators like if and while, and it uses prototypical inheritance, where a function can inherit properties from another function.
As a result of its flexible syntax and powerful capabilities, javascript is widely used by web developers to create interactive websites. You can see the javascript on any website by right-clicking and selecting “Inspect”. It powers all the little things that make your favorite websites so fun to interact with: the scrolling news ticker, the auto-underline of typos, and those nifty popup windows that show you additional options or let you sign up for a newsletter. It is even used to create and run games and calculators. According to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey, javascript is the most popular language for front-end development and has become one of the most important tools for modern web developers. It is also commonly used in other areas, such as data science and mobile app development. The future looks bright for javascript. As web application and web development continue to grow, so will the need for its dynamic, user-friendly functions. This makes it the ideal programming language to master if you want to be a successful front-end web developer.