JavaScript at 30: From Browser Scripting to Full-Stack Powerhouse

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JavaScript, created by Brendan Eich at Netscape in just ten days in 1995, was originally designed to add interactivity to web pages inside browsers. The language was standardised by Ecma International in 1997 under the ECMAScript specification, with TC39 continuing to release annual updates since 2015. A turning point came in 2009 when Ryan Dahl embedded Chrome's V8 engine into a runtime called Node.js, enabling JavaScript to run on servers for the first time. Today, the language powers an estimated 98% of websites and extends well beyond browsers to mobile apps via React Native, desktop software through Electron, and backend APIs via Node.js. Despite its misleading name, JavaScript shares no technical relationship with Java, having been branded that way purely for marketing reasons at the time of its launch.

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ProgrammingDEV Community ·

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