JavaScript | ECMAScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is an interactive scripting language that is compatible with HTML and CSS, allowing us to create dynamic pages (content can be dynamically updated, we can utilize users’ inputs, we can show conditionally (if-else) based content, we can control multimedia, animate images, etc.).
JavaScript was introduced as Mocha in 1995, at that time the main purpose of this language is to make web pages alive (make dynamic pages) and where we execute js code on the frontend side(Browsers). But in 2009, Ryan Dahl came and gave us the idea of a node.js runtime environment that allows us to execute js code on the back-end as well(allowing us to build fast, scalable network applications and much more).
JS Engine:
A JavaScript engine is a software component that executes JavaScript code. Every browser has its own JS Engine.
Browser → JS Engine
Chrome → V8
Mozilla Firefox → Spider Monkeyetc.
ECMAScript:
If we know what ECMAScript is for, then we can understand its definition
( Why ECMAScript is introduced? )
Let’s go over JavaScript’s history.
Netscape introduced JavaScript in 1995, which could only be executed in Netscape navigator (Netscape browser). Meanwhile, Microsoft released Internet Explorer, causing a browser war with Netscape. On the JavaScript front, Microsoft reverse-engineered the Navigator interpreter to create its own, called JScript (released in 1996).
That means if someone creates a website on JavaScript that is run only by Netscape navigator(Browser), not in Internet Explorer, and vice versa for JScript. These differences made it difficult for developers to make their websites work well on both browsers.
As part of its efforts to advance JavaScript standardization, Netscape announced a meeting of the Ecma International standards organization in November 1996. The name “ECMAScript” was a compromise between the organizations involved in standardizing the language, especially Netscape and Microsoft, whose disputes dominated the sessions of the early standard.
ECMAScript is a standard for scripting languages such as JavaScript, JScript, etc. There are some rules or specifications has defined that should be followed by scripting language and js engines.The first edition of ECMA-262 was adopted by the Ecma General Assembly in June 1997.
ES6 is the 6th version of ECMAScript, published in 2015, and is also referred to as ECMAScript 2015. It brings new syntax and new awesome features to make your code more readable and modern.
Reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaScript#Creation_at_Netscape
