Uncovering the Power of JavaScript Programming: Insights

Despite the popularity of JavaScript and the crucial role it plays in web technology, the language wasn't meant to offer the foundation of modern web development.

The language, in fact, was created within a period of less than two weeks and it initially had a very different purpose.

In the 1990s, when the internet boomed with much public usage, technology companies fought to build the most robust and powerful, yet efficient web browsers users could find in the market.

There was a 'browser building war' raging between Microsoft and NetScape. Microsoft has Internet Explorer while NetScape has NetScape Navigator - two of which gained dominance in the web browser market.

NetScape wanted to have a lightweight scripting language to allow easy programming, something that made web development to be more accessible compared to other languages that needed deeper training in order to use them.

In 1995, NetScape gave one of its employees up to 10 days to build a lightweight scripting language. The Employee was known as Brendan Eich and he created what was known as Mocha which later was called JavaScript.

As you can see in the story, JavaScript was never designed to become the common standard language to use on web development.

However, that changed when NetScape got into the ownership of AOL, eventually turning over the code of the browser to the Mozilla Foundation - that's when the popularity of the language started.

builtwith reports that there are 343 active websites that use Netscape Enterprise Server and 6,647 websites that have used it in the past.

Today, JavaScript is an essential tool in web technology supported by most of the major web browsers. Many JavaScript developer teams work on JavaScript projects to build websites and apps.

It is important that developers learn and familiarize themselves with the language because it is a preferred choice by many businesses as well as the developer community.

JavaScript has been named as the commonly used programming language by the Stack Overflow Developer survey for a period of six years in a row.


What made Javascript Popular?

What made Javascript Popular?

1. High Usage

You will find that JavaScript is highly used as it is talked about. Many data analysis platforms have proven that language is the most popular technology within the engineering world.

GitHub, a repository used by millions of developers publishes yearly analytics about how things have been going on in the previous year in their platform.

According to Octoverse 2017 of GitHub, JavaScript was touted as the most popular language based on the amount of open pull requests.

When we talk of pull requests, they are an indication of the sum of code that has been written. The 2018 Stack Overflow's Annual Survey indicates that for the sixth consecutive year, JavaScript was named as the most commonly used coding language.

In addition, JavaScript-based technologies such as AngularJS, Node.js, and React also top the list of the commonly used frameworks, libraries, and tools.

Another industry analyst company RedMonk had something to share about the popularity of JavaScript. RedMonk extracts the rankings of programming languages from Stack Overflow and GitHub before combining them for another ranking to help reflect both the code as well as the discussion traction.

While RedMonk's ranking may not be seen to be statistically a valid reflection of the current language usage, it offers insights into the likelihood of users adopting the languages.

In January 2018, RedMonk Programming Language Ranking stated that JavaScript ranked highest of the first technologies used and discussed or talked about in the globe.

Web Technology Surveys (Web3Techs) reported that in 2018, JavaScript was used by 95 percent of websites and topped the list of the highly popular client-side coding language.

From this report, it can be said that JavaScript has made strides to become a very popular language in the world - thanks to the web browsers' ubiquity.

A software quality company, TIOBE in its 2018 April Index, reported that JavaScript was the 8th among the most popular languages featured in their list.

TIOBE does its calculation of the index based on user search queries derived from different engines including Yahoo, Bing, Google, Amazon, Baidu, YouTube and Wikipedia among others.

TIOBE's Index is updated every month and rating is pegged on the sum of skilled engineers in the world as well as the courses and third-party vendors.

Read the Blog: Why You Need a Dedicated AngularJS Developer

Any dedicated JavaScript developer will tell you that JavaScript is a language that competes highly in server-side developments.

When you look at all this data, you find that JavaScript takes a leading spot in usage and popularity and discussions.

It is highly talked about in the community of developers. A big number of GitHub users are actually JavaScript developers.

And Stack Overflow says that 69.8 percent of its 78,334 developers- respondents use JavaScript.


2. Full Stack Development

In web development, JavaScript has maintained dominance. It also has the power of ubiquity. Since 2009 when Node.js was released, the scenario of 'JavaScript everywhere' was seen as a reality.

The server-side framework based on JavaScript language allows developers to unite web app development in a single coding language instead of relying on numerous languages to write the server-side code.

The package manager of Node.js offers the biggest ecosystem comprising open-source libraries globally. You may have noticed that many recognized companies such as LinkedIn changed their server-side code and begun using Node.js.

After switching to JavaScript, the LinkedIn mobile app was able to improve its speed about 2 to 10 times than it was before.

In essence, JavaScript does well in website development.


3. Being Adopted in IoT

Today, Node.js has been adopted in the Internet of Things use cases. The JavaScript framework is popular for many Internet of Things companies as well as situations - the reason being that it's easy to use and it rarely breaks.

You will find Node.js being used in Internet of Things projects whether the server or the device. The framework is trending because it is fast, and has many plugins.

It is also scalable and a good fit for A/O. Using Node.js allows the user to control the Internet of Things from a single point and to hold secure and effective communication among other things.

Many IoT libraries for JavaScript are appearing in the field indicating that the technology is being used more and is rapidly growing.

Among hardware engineers, the most famous JavaScript libraries are such as Device.js, Cylon.js, Zetta.js, and Johnny-five.io.


4. Utilized as a Cross-Platform for Mobile Development

The React Native is a JavaScript code library that enhances the popularity of JavaScript within the mobile development space.

The code library appeared open source in 2013 making it possible for app developers to build cross-platform mobile apps using JavaScript and React.

React Native is trendy because it saves time, reduces the invested financial and human resources, shortens the app development process, and makes the switch from web to mobile app development smoother.

Also, React Native allows code-reusability in addition to sharing twice. The almost native nature of React gives it an upper hand.

Although the code library has been written in JavaScript language it feels and looks like a native app done in a native language.

React makes it possible for the developer to write two varying apps using a single language.


5. Has Lots of Influencers and Supporters

Another reason why JavaScript is popular is because of the support it has. The language has been implemented by major companies such as Alibaba, Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Being used by Giant companies contributes to its popularity. Many businesses would want to use languages because it has been utilized by big companies.

The reason why the giant organizations are using JavaScript is because it can handle as well as solve a majority of the tasks.

The coding language is powered by its inimitable nature, the libraries it has, and the popular frameworks.

Companies like Netflix, GoDaddy, Slack, Yahoo, and PayPal have written their web apps fully in JavaScript. Again, HubSpot, Adblock Plus, Mozilla, Lightshot, and Greasemonkey make some of the desktop apps that have been built in JavaScript technology.

Facebook has been backing the use of JavaScript all along and LinkedIn changed their server-side into Node.js while PayPal moved from Java to JavaScript.


Conclusion

There are many reasons why JavaScript thrives as one of the popular languages. It is considered the king of the web while having the title of the queen of the mobile space.

You also find it in the Internet of Things and it competes with other server-side languages. For organizations or individuals that want to build high-performing and fast websites, mobile apps, and desktop apps, or even browser extensions, they can count on JavaScript.

Businesses seeking websites and applications can hire JavaScript developers to have their projects written using the language.


References

  1. 🔗 Google scholar
  2. 🔗 Wikipedia
  3. 🔗 NyTimes