Updated July 28, 2004
JavaScript started life as "LiveScript." The concept of LiveScript began at Netscape, as they planned the features of their Netscape Navigator 2.0 product, released in January 1996. LiveScript was designed from the start to augment HTML pages, and Netscape planners saw it as a tool for the
average Web page designer.
At first, interest in LiveScript was mild, due mostly to the frenzy surrounding a more robust Internet programming language, named Java. Java was developed over a three year period at Sun Microsystems, a company long entrenched in the Internet. Programmers flocked to Java because of its potential, at first leaving LiveScript in the cold.
When Netscape announced their intention of supporting Java in the Netscape 2.0 product, they also announced a collaboration with Sun on re-developing
LiveScript, now renamed JavaScript. Suddenly, interest in the little "scripting language that could" blossomed. Whereas Java requires in-depth programming knowledge and a software development kit, JavaScript programs can be written by most any HTML page designer. No software
development kit is needed.
As of this writing, JavaScript is used in Netscape 2.0 and above, as well as Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 and later. As the co-developers of JavaScript,
Netscape has wanted to make JavaScript an "open standard," meaning that other companies can use and implement JavaScript in their own Internet products. When JavaScript was first announced in December of 1995, over two dozen companies jumped on the bandwagon promising to support it for
future products. Those products -- from companies such as Microsoft, America Online, Borland, IBM, Symantec, and many others -- are just now
coming out, or will be released shortly.
JavaScript is poised to do for Web publishing what Visual Basic did for Windows programming.
JavaScript offers a scripting language accessible to "mere mortals," allowing most anyone to use it in their Web pages. JavaScript closely follows the Web principle of bringing electronic publishing to the masses. You don't need lots of money or technology to publish on the Web; likewise with JavaScript, you don't need a programming degree to take advantage of the language.
Both Java and JavaScript are already becoming de facto standards for Web page programming. As a developer, this means you're more assured that the technology you invest in today will not disappear tomorrow. Already there are thousands of Web sites that use JavaScript to some degree.
As Netscape maintains a healthy percentage of the browser market, potential users of your site are in the millions.
All major on-line services, including CompuServe and America Online, are now offering Web document space to their customers. This means a lot of people are just now getting the taste of Web publishing, and are looking for ways to improve their work. Many are turning to JavaScript to add value and spice.
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