I can't believe it's not Java

01 Sep 2021

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JavaScript & Java

Initially I was very hesitant about learning and using JavaScript I assumed it would be like Java. I absolutely hated that everything had to be a class. Thankfully this was not the case since JavaScript is a separate language. It is object orientated like Java but is far more relaxed and objects are prototype based instead of being confined to a class. Upon looking into it further the languages aren’t even based off each other. JavaScript was originally called Mocha then LiveScript and eventually JavaScript due to a licensing agreement with Sun Microsystems. The JavaScript name was chose to give legitimacy to the new language. The JavaScript name is a trademark of Sun Microsystems/Oracle (same company that owns Java). The standard that JavaScript conforms to is set by the European Computer Manufactures Association (ECMA) which creatively named its language ECMAScript.

You might think why does JavaScript have a standard at all, Java doesn’t. JavaScript was made in 1995 by Netscape and was not standardized until 1997. JavaScript worked quite well and didn’t rely on the underlying OS to operate which in the eyes of Microsoft could hinder OS commoditization. It was also in direct competition with Microsoft’s Visual basic standard. Netscape was strong armed by Microsoft to standardize JavaScript or risk losing access to windows OS which represented a majority of the market at the time. Microsoft did this in part due to it having reverse engineered JavaScript to create its own interpreter Jscript. JavaScript and Jscript were similar but had some differences which caused issues that could vary from site to site depending on the implementation. Netscape eventually went bankrupt after complying with standardization and Microsoft pushing Internet explorer onto its users (this action resulted in large antitrust case against Microsoft in 1998 which it lost). As for Java standardization it was attempted twice but pulled both times due to IP concerns. The attempts were not a complete loss and did contribute to Java becoming slightly more open.

Using JavaScript

I am just glad that JavaScript has less boilerplate code needed to run a simple program. The first Java class that I took was ICS 211 at UH Manoa I remember thinkning “why would you do this”. JavaScript on the otherhand was easy to look at and easy to run. Its also great that most of the time you do not need to set up an enviorment to get started.

References

Cargill, Carl F. “Why Standardization Efforts Fail.” The Journal of Electronic Publishing 14, no. 1 (2011). https://doi.org/10.3998/3336451.0014.103.

“Complaint : U.S. v. Microsoft Corp.” The United States Department of Justice, May 18, 1998. https://www.justice.gov/atr/complaint-us-v-microsoft-corp.