A Brief History of JavaScript

Programming the browser


Java 
  • 1990: Java was developed at Sun Microsystems to replace C++ 
  • 1994:  The "Oak" programming language, originally developed for set-top boxes, is retargeted to the web for "applets" 
    • Java takes off and is the first memory safe language in widespread use 
JavaScript 
  • 1995:  Brendan Eich develops the "Mocha" programming language at Netscape; Mocha is renamed "LiveScript" and then "JavaScript" 
    • JavaScript takes off and is included in the Microsoft's IE browser
  • 1996: JavaScript is submitted to ECMA as a standard
Today
  • Java still dominates server-side while JS dominates client-side and is also making inroads into server-side (eg, node.js)

Source: Daniel Jackson, https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-170-software-studio-spring-2013/lecture-notes/MIT6_170S13_32-java-intro.pdf
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