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Javascript comes of ageThis topic discusses the article Javascript comes of age. Brendan Eich was is an incredible person in my book. Although he's not in the spotlight like Donald Trump and some of the other billionaires, he has made a lasting impact on the technology industry for years to come. He started his career at Silicon Graphics as an operating system and network programmer and then moved on to his crowning project at Netscape, creating JavaScript. Then known as Mocha, LiveScript, now known of course as JavaScript, ECMAScript, and ActionScript. Based on the Personal Computer World (2007) article, describe why is it thought by many that JavaScript has finally come of age. When would you recommend its use over Java and HTML? The biggest reason why JavaScript is thought by many to have come of age is the advent of AJAX. This technology allows the use of interactive web pages. This is possible through small exchanges of data between the the client and the server. The allows for smaller file sizes because not all of the data needs to be downloaded at once by the client. This is why I would recommend JavaScript over plain HTML or DHTML, because some data would be impossible to load all at once. For example, the terabytes of image information required for Yahoo maps would be overwhelming to the server and the client if it all had to be downloaded at once, and the amount of static html files required to display the data would probably be less then economical as well. This data is provided to a flash program that takes a little bit to load and dynamically updates as the user browses. The user only downloads what is needed to view the map that that they are looking at. JavaScript is dynamic. It grows and changes as needed (this is demonstrated in the article.) This is a stark difference to Java. When it's written it's written. There is no changing it once it's done. Java is great for applications with only one outcome, like making a pretty start page or a small application, but JavaScript is better suited for dynamic data that interacts with the HTML and server data. Related Links Yahoo! Maps AJAX API Reference Manual Related Resources |
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