JavaScript on the Client
Discover how JavaScript evolved from a simple animation tool to the primary language for client-side web development. Learn about key advancements such as AJAX, jQuery, single-page applications, and the rise of frameworks like React and Angular. Understand how ES2015 (ES6) improved JavaScript and why modern development focuses on maintainability and structured coding practices.
Client-side development:
JavaScript has been clearly the language to go-to when it comes to client-side development. Let’s stop for a moment. What is client-side?
Client-side development focuses on writing code that runs in the browser of the end-user.
Back in the 90s and early 2000s, JavaScript was a little toy language that could animate elements on a static website. These animations were called dynamic behavior.
Animation and rendering:
Animation in computer science is the act of moving an object on the screen. During the move, the features of the object may change, which means that the animated object may be drawn in different colors, different sizes, or in the case of three-dimensional animation, we might see the object from a different angle.
Displaying an object on screen at a given point in time is called rendering. Animation can also be defined by continuously rendering an object on the screen, while its features, including its position, may change.
A brief history of JavaScript
"Twenty years ago, JavaScript was not popular in the software development industry. Many “developers” had no idea what they were doing, and they just copy-pasted code snippets to add some dynamic behavior to their site. Oftentimes, these snippets clashed with each other ...