A Brief History of JavaScript

JavaScript is a programming language that was created in 1995 by Brendan Eich while working at Netscape. It was originally called Mocha and then changed to LiveScript before finally being named JavaScript. JavaScript was first released as part of Netscape Navigator 2.0 in September 1995, and quickly became the de facto standard for client-side scripting on the web.

JavaScript’s popularity grew rapidly in the late 1990s and early 2000s as web development boomed, and it quickly became the most widely-used programming language on the web. In 1996, Microsoft released an implementation of JavaScript called JScript, which was included with Internet Explorer 3.0.

In 1997, JavaScript was standardized by the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) as ECMAScript. The latest version of ECMAScript (ECMAScript 2021) has been released in June 2021.

In the late 2000s and early 2010s, JavaScript’s popularity continued to grow, as it was increasingly used for server-side programming with the introduction of Node.js. This made it possible to use JavaScript on the server-side, which has further increased its popularity.

Currently, JavaScript is one of the most popular programming languages in the world. According to the latest data from the TIOBE Index, JavaScript is currently the second most popular programming language, behind only Python. According to GitHub’s 2020 State of the Octoverse report, JavaScript is the most popular language on GitHub, with more than 2.2 million pull requests and 1.2 million contributors.

Additionally, JavaScript is supported by all major web browsers, which makes it a popular choice for client-side web development. It is also used for server-side programming, mobile app development, Internet of Things, and desktop apps.

Overall, JavaScript has had a long and successful history, and it continues to be a popular and widely-used programming language today.