Why is JavaScript so popular in web development?

March 20th, 2014

I took a look around the web and thought that this blog article was very comprehensive in explaining why JavaScript is so popular. Here is an excerpt of it:

  1. Node.js

    2. Node.js has reduced JavaScript's need to rely on other technologies such as PHP or .Net to run on the server and serve information up. It is built on Google Chrome’s JavaScript Runtime engine called V8.

  2. JavaScript is a Natural fit for the Web

    3. JavaScript is fully supported by all modern browsers and works seamlessly with HTML/DHTML, CSS3 and background services via AJAX.

  3. AJAX

    4. AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) and XMLHttpRequest allow for more efficient design to ask the server for information without reloading a web page.

  4. JavaScript is Easily Extensible (jQuery, Prototype, Dojo)

    5. Developers have written several very good libraries to support the language and allow it to easily manipulate web pages with just a few lines of code (like jQuery)

  5. JavaScript Allows for object oriented design

    6. Using JavaScript you can easily create objects and use special OOP design patterns, but flexible enough to not force using OOP.

  6. JavaScript is Easy to Debug

    7. Any error you run into can be traced back to the exact place it occurred using developer tools.

  7. Abundance of Developer Tools

    8. Popular browsers have adapted to giving power users enough freedom to look under the hood and see or even change the JavaScript that’s running behind your favorite sites.

  8. JavaScript is a Prototyping Language

    9. Suited for very rapid and flexible development.

  9. JavaScript is Easy to Edit

    10. JavaScript does not need to be compiled, so all you need to write it is notepad or any other plain text editor.

  10. JavaScript is Easy to Learn

    11. JavaScript is easy to pick up because of the very flexible nature of the language, is widely standardized across common browsers