Computing Dictionary
JavaScript definition
language (Formerly "LiveScript")
Netscape's simple, cross-
platform,
World-Wide Web scripting language, only very vaguely related to
Java (which is a
Sun trademark). JavaScript is intimately tied to the
World-Wide Web, and currently runs in only three environments - as a
server-side
scripting language, as an embedded language in
server-parsed HTML, and as an embedded language run in web
browsers where it is the most important part of
DHTML.
JavaScript has a simplified
C-like
syntax and is tightly integrated with the browser
Document Object Model. It is useful for implementing enhanced
forms, simple web
database front-ends, and navigation enhancements. It is unusual in that the
scope of
variables extends throughout the function in which they are declared rather than the smallest enclosing block as in C.
JavaScript originated from
Netscape and, for a time, only their products supported it.
Microsoft now supports a work-alike which they call JScript. The resulting inconsistencies make it difficult to write JavaScript that behaves the same in all browsers. This could be attributed to the slow progress of JavaScript through the standards bodies.
JavaScript runs "100x" slower than
C, as it is purely interpreted (
Java runs "10x" slower than C code).
Netscape and allies say JavaScript is an "open standard" in an effort to keep
Microsoft from monopolising web software as they have desktop software.
Netscape and
Sun have co-operated to enable
Java and JavaScript to exchange messages and data.
See also
VBScript.
Usenet newsgroup:
news:comp.lang.javascript.
Mailing List:
("subscribe javascript" in body).
(2003-04-28)