the inclusion of language design elements unfamiliar to most developers.

the ubiquitous and “unbreakable” deployment environment (the Web), and.

a prejudice that development for the Web was not “serious”,.

The unique circumstances of the birth of the language, including: It was then quickly re-positioned as a Web “companion” for Java. So JavaScript was conceived as a scripting language for the Web for both client and server side. Unfortunately for JavaScript, its early market positioning outlived its usefulness and later became a brake on market acceptance as it emerged as a viable technology in its own right. So Sun (erroneously, I believe) never saw the language as a competitor and the alliance held. At the time however, the Web was very limited when compared to Java for example, drawing pixels was not possible in JavaScript as it is now with canvas. If this sounds familiar, it is because this was exactly what Sun was attempting to pull off with Java. Furthermore, when used together with their LiveWire application server product, it would enable isomorphic development, with the same language used on both client and server.

Netscape’s Mocha (later JavaScript ) aimed to turn the web into a full-blown application platform. So the name was a straightforward marketing ploy to gain acceptance. They also aimed to out-manoeuvre Microsoft by being the official browser of the highly anticipated platform that was Java.īrendan Eich has said that with Sun on board, they decided to surf the tidal wave of hype surrounding Java and position JavaScript as the companion language to Java, in the same way Visual Basic was to C++. Netscape, on the other hand found a powerful ally against Microsoft. So the Netscape/Sun partnership meant Sun acquired the use of a competitive browser and a delivery system for their strategic technology. Sun did have a browser in 1995 before the Netscape partnership, but it was slow and resource hungry.

Javascript programming language