EPISODE 1: What is JavaScript?

Objectives

• Definition.

• Key points.

• The role of JS in web development.

Definition

JavaScript (JS) is a dynamic, high-level, object-oriented, multi-paradigm programming language used for creating interactive content on websites .

Key Things to Note About JS:

1. Dynamic: To say JavaScript is "dynamic" means that many aspects of the language's behavior, particularly concerning data types and object structures, are determined and can change during the program's execution (runtime), rather than being fixed at compile-time. For instance it’s dynamic typing allows for variables in JavaScript to not have a fixed type declared at the time of their creation in certain cases. Instead, the type of a variable is determined by the value it currently holds, and this type can change throughout the program's execution.

   An illustration of dynamic typing can be seen below;

        let myVariable = 10; // myVariable is a number
        myVariable = "Hello"; // now myVariable is a string
   

2. High-level: JavaScript is designed to be easy for humans to read, write, and understand, as it abstracts away many of the complex, low-level details of computer hardware and memory management.

3. Object-oriented: This simply means JS uses objects to store data, we’ll go deeper into that as the series unfolds.

4. Multi-paradigm: To say JavaScript is a "multi-paradigm" language means that it supports and allows developers to write code using multiple programming paradigms. A programming paradigm is a fundamental style or approach to building the structure and elements of computer programs. Some of it’s key paradigms include; Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), Functional Programming, Imperative Programming and Declarative Programming. We’ll touch more on each of them later.

The Role of JS in Web Development

1. JS allows programmers to add dynamic and interactive effects to a web page.

2. It enables the creation of web applications in the browser using react, angular and vue.

   

3. It enables the creation of web applications on web servers using NodeJS.

4. It enables the creation of native mobile applications using react native and ionic.

   

5. It enables the creation of native desktop applications using electron.

OUTRO

That’s all for the chapter 1, now you should have basic knowledge of what JS is and what it’s used for. This entire blog series is basically aimed at giving programmers, both frontend and backend, that use JS (myself included), the opportunity to go back and revise all their knowledge on key concepts in JS and it’s logic. In the next episode we’ll show you how to create your first “Hello World!” code, till next time.