JavaScript

JavaScript is a high-level, just-in-time-compiled programming language designed for the Web. It was created by Brendan Eich in 1995, and maintained to this day by Ecma International's TC39 technical committee. It has dynamic typing, prototype-based object orientation, and first-class functions.

History

During the early years of the Web, pages could be only static, without the capability of dynamic content. So, in 1995, Netscape decided to add a programming language to their Web browser. They both collaborated with Sun Microsystems to embed the Java language, and hired Brendan Eich to embed the Scheme language.
Due to their goal of a "language for the masses", Netscape management decided that the best option was to create a new language, with syntax like Java and less like Scheme. The new language was originally called LiveScript, but was soon changed to JavaScript.

When Microsoft debuted Internet Explorer in 1995, it created a JavaScript interpreter called JScript. When Microsoft released it, it led to difficulty for web developers as it was too different from Netscape's implementation, which led to the "Best viewed in Internet Explorer" and "Best viewed in Netscape Navigator" logos for several years.

In 1996, Netscape submitted JavaScript to Ecma International. This led to the official release of the first ECMAScript language specification.
However, the standardization was weakened by Microsoft's Internet Explorer gaining a 95% market share, which led to JScript becoming the de-facto standard.

JavaScript started to change from its once stagnant state when Mozilla released the Firefox browser.
When Chrome released with its V8 engine, others needed to change significantly to catch up.

Example Code

let a = 5;
let b = 2;
console.log(a + b);
console.log(true + 2);

References

En Wikipedia Org. (2026). Javascript. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaScript. Retrieved August 7, 2026.