One of the main reasons for learning programming languages is for building, developing, and designing software. This makes it essential to understand the capabilities of any programming language.
By knowing the different kinds of applications, you can create, investing your time in JavaScript will make your software career more interesting. It will also allow you to become more assured that you are on the right path.
JavaScript is an essential coding language that developers use for web development, web application, presentations, app development, server applications, web servers, and more.
JavaScript allows developers to implement dynamic features on web pages without only using CSS and HTML.
Today, JavaScript is used for several purposes in software development. However, JavaScript capabilities can expand even beyond the web sector.
Yet, before you start learning to code using JavaScript, you must understand its potential. This will give you a better understanding of how JavaScript works and whether learning JavaScript programming is good for you, given your long-term career goals and aspirations.
Many coding language rankings show that JavaScript happens to be one of the most popular scripting languages over the last decade. These rankings also show that JavaScript is one of the most in-demand languages in technology.
The Basics
JavaScript is an interpreted client-side programming language that allows web developers to input code onto their web page.
Typically, JavaScript is placed into an HTML file and runs directly from the web page. Today though, it is the most commonly used language in technology.
JavaScript can perform advanced tasks such as printing the time and date, creating a calendar, and other tasks that can’t be completed with HTML. In addition, JavaScript is used to update HTML, CSS, and validations, calculations, and even manipulate data.
JavaScript is a simple and easy-to-learn scripting language, unlike other coding languages such as Haskell, C++, Python, and Ruby.
It is a high-level and interpreted programming language that can easily be embedded with CSS, HTML, and Java languages.
Initially, it was called LiveScript, but later, Netscape changed its name to JavaScript. However, JavaScript has some distinctive features that make it differ from other programming languages, such as;
- It is a lightweight and interpreted language.
- It is easily embedded with other coding languages such as Java and HTML
- It works as a client-side programming language that helps in creating dynamic web pages
JavaScript enhances the users’ web page experience by converting a static web page to an interactive and friendly one.
Among the best coding languages, JavaScript is widely used in web servers and databases.
Uses of JavaScript
Many coding language rankings show that JavaScript happens to be one of the most popular scripting languages over the last decade. These rankings also show that JavaScript is one of the most in-demand languages in technology.
However, for a long time, the primary use of JavaScript has been for client-side programming. So, anytime you see text, a button, or an object moving on a web page, it is most likely using JavaScript programming code.
Let’s take a look at more uses of JavaScript
Front End Web Development
Front-end web development, aka client-side development, refers to managing the client-facing part of the front end of a website.
It is what you see and interact with on your web browser. Front-end web development involves using HTML, and JavaScript to develop a website or web application so that users can see and interact with your site directly.
The primary responsibility of front-end developers is to create a functional user experience.
HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are the major programming languages that developers use in building the front end of a website.
In addition, these languages are usually involved in the design process to advise on technical implementation such as design and layout. Still, in most cases, JavaScript and HTML don’t design a web page themselves; that’s what CSS is for.
Back End Web Development
Back-end development can also be called server-side development. It happens to be server-side development which focuses on programming, databases, and site architecture.
It involves every activity that occurs when performing any action on a website. It is the back-end that powers the web and allows users to browse their favorite website.
Developers are responsible for creating, maintaining, testing, and debugging the entire back-end web development such as databases, files servers, software applications, the core logic, cloud services, APIs, and other processes.
Mobile Application Development
Mobile application development refers to the process and procedure involved in developing software applications that work on a mobile device such as Smartphones and computers.
Even though mobile applications are usually small software units with limited functionalities, they still create a functional user experience.
Mobile devices are widely utilized to access the internet in the 21st century, and you can build an application for the non-web environment using JavaScript.
Its elements make it a more powerful language for developing mobile applications. The React Native framework is a standard JavaScript framework that you can use to create mobile applications.
You can create mobile apps for different operating systems using the React Native framework. You don’t need to use other codes for iOS and Android platforms. It is not necessary to write it once and run it on multiple platforms.
Game Development
You can use JavaScript to design more than websites; it also helps to create games.
There are many ways of creating games using JavaScript; these all depend on the features and complexity of the game. The collaboration of JavaScript and HTML5 makes JavaScript a popular language in game development.
The Easel JS Library offers easy solutions for working with rich graphics to create games and other highly graphical experiences.
Game developers used JavaScript to build games like Angry Birds, Bejewelled, and Polycraft. Likewise, you can use JavaScript and HTML5 to develop a powerful game that users can play with just a keyboard.
The collaboration of the two languages allows for fully-fledged, interactive games using different engines, libraries, and versions of popular web languages.
Client-Side Web Applications
Traditional web applications typically have two sides: the client-side web apps and the server-side web apps. With client-side applications, you can use JavaScript to make web pages more interactive.
For example, there are many amazing animations you can create using JavaScript. All that matters most are how you handle the HTML and CSS.
You can use JavaScript to create animations, play media files, ensure site responsivity, and more. Also, you can use JavaScript to build and draw any interface or diagrams.
JavaScript libraries such as Bideo.js, Choreographer.js, Chart.js, Cleave.js make it simple to beautify graphs and charts, assisting with UI and UX.
Server-Side Web Applications
When used in collaboration with the Node.js framework, JavaScript can help to design web servers.
The Node.js framework is event-driven and doesn’t wait for the responses of the previous call before moving to the next task without transferring large amounts of data, making JavaScript web servers extremely fast.
Servers that are created using Node.js are speedy. They don’t buffer or transfer chunks of data, making the process straightforward with less scope for errors.
With JavaScript Servers, you can handle concurrency easily and identify errors that may otherwise be difficult to see in multithreaded processes.
Node.js is a framework that has all the essential tools to enable JavaScript to run on servers. With Node.js, you can write server-side software using JavaScript, like writing a code that allows individuals to log into web applications.
Also, you can develop APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) using the Node.js framework. Through your API, other web applications can interact with your web applications.
For example, suppose you have some vital information on your area’s weather conditions. You can develop an application programming interface so that other web applications can request the weather data when they need it.
JavaScript frameworks add structured and organized features to code. They are collections of libraries that offer developers pre-written JavaScript code, which helps them develop and design apps quickly.
Why Do We Need JavaScript?
JavaScript is everywhere on the internet. Web pages use JavaScript in various ways to display their content.
For example, most developers use JavaScript to develop a comment box sections for blogs. For web and app development, JavaScript continues to be the dominant coding language.
Nonetheless, developers sometimes face challenges in using the best framework to execute projects quickly and seamlessly.
Here developers use JavaScript frameworks based on their clients’ requirements. In addition, JavaScript was developed to make web pages look alive and user-friendly.
As a result, you can write code to build web pages in HTML and also complete them immediately as the web pages load.
JavaScript frameworks add structured and organized features to code. They are collections of libraries that offer developers pre-written JavaScript code, which helps them develop and design apps quickly.
A good tool that you can use to shape, structure, and organize web apps or websites. JavaScript frameworks offer structure elements such as what you can use to develop your entire project. It helps an app developer to code a responsive application for any device.
Lastly, JavaScript is easy to learn, easy to debug and test, and when embedded with HTML, JavaScript can be used to input data validation and create cookies.
Is It The Best Programming Language?
JavaScript is one of the most commonly used coding languages in the world, particularly for web applications.
Some consider JavaScript to be the standard coding language of the internet. It forms and structures the genesis of almost everything you encounter online. It is used in both the front and back end to add dynamic features to websites.
It also happens to be the foundation of most libraries and frameworks for web applications like Angular, Vue, and React.
Can It Be Used For All Types of Web Pages?
All types of web pages can use JavaScript. It’s a coding language that is acceptable worldwide. JavaScript is used by more than 96.5% of all websites, according to W3Techs.
Therefore, it is not only a coding language that is universally used to build and design, but it also provides an excellent opportunity to break into and understand the fundamentals of web development. Examples of websites that use JavaScript are Google, YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia, Yahoo, Amazon, Twitter, QQ, and eBay!
The Most Popular Coding Language
JavaScript is the most popular coding language used by developers and one that is still increasing in popularity. According to a Stack Overflow survey in 2019, JavaScript has been the most commonly used coding language for six consecutive years.
A Low Barrier To Entry
Since JavaScript is a programming language that web browsers use, it is simple to get started with and understand. You can start learning it right away, unlike other coding languages.
You don’t need to install many programs before you can start learning JavaScript, and you can start learning today on sites such as Codecademy and Udemy.
JavaScript is a Fun, Dynamic, and Interactive Programming Language
JavaScript has a graphical user interface (GUI) that’s fun and easy to manipulate. You can write code that will run in your browser to develop interactive projects earlier in the learning process.
It Has Strong Support for Learning
Now that every web browser comes with source code viewing features, people can learn from other people’s live code. JavaScript happens to have the largest and most active respiratory of library code among the programming languages in the world.
Individuals in the JavaScript community are very active and supportive when it comes to sharing and using code.
It has the largest community on Stack-Overflow and more than 3,700 Meetup groups worldwide. It also has a fantastic tool for beginner programmers who wants to expand their skillset into other coding languages.
It supports valuable skills like objected-oriented, functional, and imperative styles of programming. Beginners can apply all these skills to any new coding language they want to learn, such as CSS, Python, C++, or Java.
Great Debugging Tools for Learning
JavaScript has an interactive interpreter built right into the browser, enabling beginners to experiment and get immediate feedback, which helps them learn faster.
Final Word
JavaScript is more than just a web technology that develops highly interactive web applications; you can also use it to develop both front-end and back-end web apps.
It also helps in improving the speed, performance, usability, functionality, elements, and features of any application with no stress. JavaScript can be used to develop simple browser games and mobile applications.
JavaScript is a popular coding language that is frequently used in combination with third-party frameworks such as Vue.js, Ember, Angular, and many other tools.
These tools offer many pre-built functions that go beyond the usage of JavaScript frameworks. Now developers use JavaScript to make their web apps deliver the best and functional user experience across different devices, browsers, and operating systems.
You must learn about different JavaScript frameworks and tools and combine multiple frameworks and libraries to use regarding the requirements of a project.
However, knowing what you can use in JavaScript can help you adjust your business plan accordingly for your project’s needs.
