JavaScript
<language>
(Formerly "LiveScript")Netscape's simple,cross-platform,webscripting language, onlyvery vaguely related toJava (which is aSun trademark).JavaScript is intimately tied to theweb, andcurrently runs in only three environments - as aserver-sidescripting language, as an embedded language inserver-parsed HTML, and as an embedded language run in webbrowsers where it is the most important part ofDHTML.
JavaScript has a simplifiedC-likesyntax and is tightlyintegrated with the browserDocument Object Model. It isuseful for implementing enhancedforms, simple webdatabasefront-ends, and navigation enhancements. It isunusual in that thescope ofvariables extends throughoutthe function in which they are declared rather than thesmallest enclosing block as in C.JavaScript originated fromNetscape and, for a time, onlytheir products supported it.Microsoft now supports awork-alike which they call JScript. The resultinginconsistencies make it difficult to write JavaScript thatbehaves the same in all browsers. This could be attributed tothe slow progress of JavaScript through the standards bodies.JavaScript runs "100x" slower thanC, as it is purelyinterpreted (Java runs "10x" slower than C code).Netscape and allies say JavaScript is an "open standard" inan effort to keepMicrosoft from monopolising web softwareas they have desktop software.Netscape andSun haveco-operated to enableJava and JavaScript to exchangemessages and data.See alsoVBScript.Usenet newsgroup:comp.lang.javascript.Mailing List:<[email protected]> ("subscribe javascript"in body).Last updated:2003-04-28
Nearby terms:
Java Run-Time Environment ♦JavaScript ♦JavaScript Object Notation
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