The origin of Javascript

When you talk to a none programmer or anyone new to web development, they always think that Javascript is related to Java. It’s almost the defacto first lesson in Javascript, “Its not Java”

The actual story of Javascripts origins is quite interesting and in a roundabout way, it is actually linked to Java.

Netscape Navigator

So, back in the day some of you, like me, might remember one of the first widely used browsers, Netscape Navigator. Back then Netscape Navigator was the dog's dangly bits and early on had little to no competition.

In 1995 the senior management of Netscape was looking to add a scripting language into the browser. They looked at a couple of languages that could offer what they wanted. The Java programming language was considered as was another language called Scheme

In the end, though, they decided on neither, and instead, they wrote there own. This new language did have some similarities to the Java language. In the first release of Netscape Navigator to include this new language, it was marketed with the name LiveScript.

The Java boom

Now, Back in the mid ’90s there was a programming boom that was based around the Java programming language, and almost anything that had the word Java in its name was destined for success. So after only 3 months, LiveScript was rebranded as Javascript.

Of course, there is a lot more to the story of Javascript and how it became so ubiquitous. You can read more about its history on the Javascripts Wikipedia page.

Your new answer to “is Javascript Java?”

Next time someone asks if Javascript is related to Java, and if their willing to listen, you can now respond with No, but …….