Welcome back. JavaScript was created in 1995 buy the Netscape web browser right over here. It was a way
for them to be able to add actions to websites. Think of JavaScript as the verb in anything you do on
a website. You tweet, you play a YouTube video, you sign up for a user name.
These are all actions we take on websites made possible through JavaScript.
In 1995 it was a way for this browser, Netscape, to beat the competition which were other browsers at
the time, because at the time Netscape was the most popular.
Other browsers started adopting their own version of JavaScript, so that websites were work on their
browsers as well and thus less people switch over to their browsers.
Can you guess what happened next?
Well, every browser had their own idea of what JavaScript was.
So there was no standard.
Eventually a standard had to be created to make sure that everyone had the same idea what JavaScript was.
So that web developers can build one website and have it work on all browsers.
This standard was called ECMAScript.
So yes, JavaScript and ECMAScript can be used interchangeably and you will hear both of these a lot.
But it's the same language. Now
this browser compatibility issue - browsers having their own teams, their own schedule and their own code.
Sound familiar?
Yep! If you remember, it's the same thing that happened with HTML and CSS.
It's the same issue that we keep having
over and over.
We covered this topic in 'Web Developer Fundamentals Part 2'.
You see, it's always a big problem:
Make sure that all browsers have the same understanding of what (a) real
HTML, CSSA and JavaScript should be. So that when we send each one of those files, we don't have to
write one specific for each browser and just like HTML and CSS, JavaScript is evolving.
So there are new things that we can do now, that you weren't able to do in 1995 with JavaScript. In the
'ES6' video section later on in the course we will talk about these new features, so don't worry.
Now let's take a look at what JavaScript does.
We can open up the browser and I have 'Udemy' over here.
Well 'Udemy' uses a lot of JavaScript.
I mean, clicking on a course, adding it to cart, liking the post.
All these things.
Well, they're all JavaScript. Even if you open categories over here, you see this dropdown and I can select
things and there's actions, constantly happening throughout the website.
That's all JavaScript. But it's not just the Web, that use JavaScript on. Instagram?
Well Instagram uses JavaScript.
What about something else?
Maybe, virtual reality?
Yeah.
You can do that too.
You can do 'VR', 'VR games',
'VR apps' with JavaScript. That's, that's pretty cool.
What else can JavaScript do?
Well, you can actually program drones with JavaScript and control them from your Wii remote if you wanted
to.
What about robotics?
Yeah, this guy built a robot.
That he can control from his web browser.
How cool is that.
Now remember Node.js?
We talked about this slide at the beginning of the course and how we're going to learn these topics.
Well, some of this is able to be done because of it.
But Node.js is pretty much JavaScript, it is JavaScript.
So you learn JavaScript.
You can pick up backend stuff very easily and the 'Node.js' section of this course will be a breeze.
It's not a new language
that you'll learn.
So is Express.
So is React.
So this is why JavaScript is so important.
What we will learn here will take you very far in the rest of your career.
This is one skill that really opens up a lot of possibilities.
Here's the beauty of JavaScript though and any other programming languages, because what is JavaScript
really? It's, it's a file, a father who can write instructions to a computer.
In the example of a robot arm all you had to do is write.
If I press this button - move arm to the right, if I press this button -
move arm to the left.
It all looks extremely complicated, but as you will see, no matter how complex the program, let's say an
online game like 'World of Warcraft',
well, everything is built one block at a time.
One simple logic at a time. In the next section we're going to start writing our first JavaScript in
our first simple pieces of logic.
Don't let it fool you though. Although it may look simple.
These are the building blocks that allow you to build big web apps like Facebook or Google. Exciting
things are going to happen with your newfound power.
So I'll see you in the next one. Bye-bye