JavaScript Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

JavaScript - Essay Example In the course of its development however, it has gone beyond the realm of simple interactive web features to become a â€Å"respected programming language used by corporations and developers across the globe to make incredible applications† (Resig, 2006, p. 3). JavaScript 2.0, the next major release, is currently under development. The success of any scripting language lies in its compatibility across different browsers, operating systems and platforms. A language developed by Netscape and Mozilla Foundation, JavaScript is naturally fully supported on all Netscape and Mozilla browsers (Lemay, 1996, p. 8). Increasing popularity however pushed other web browsers to support the language or implement a dialect that is compatible with ECMAScript. ECMAScript is yet another scripting language developed by Ecma International; according to a Wikipedia (2009) article, JavaScript is in fact just a dialect of ECMAScript. In this section, we shall examine whether JavaScript is a truly cross-platform application. We shall begin by checking popular browsers for JavaScript support. Netscape Navigator and Mozilla Firefox are, as mentioned, out of the question, leaving us only with Internet Explorer, Safari, Google Chrome and Opera. Internet Explorer. JScript, an ECMAScript dialect, is Microsoft’s answer to JavaScript’s popularity. Because JScript and JavaScript are derived from ECMAScript, the two have minor differences. In other words, an IE browser may, to some extent, read a code differently from a Firefox browser. Thankfully, McFedries (2001) confirms that these differences are trivial and that commonly used JavaScript codes will still run smoothly on non-Mozilla or non-Netscape browsers. Safari. About two years ago, Safari, a browser developed by Apple, was made available to Windows. Luckily, â€Å"Safari uses Apples WebKit for rendering web pages and running JavaScript†, as stated in a Wikipedia