JavaScript has been there for a while and has that tried and tested feel to it. In fact, it happens to be one of the most popular programming languages in the world, and one reason for that being the ease with which it can be comprehended. The spectacular rise of the WWW also fuelled the demand for JavaScript development and helped shape it into the language that it is today. Mentioned here are some of the main features of JavaScript that make it so appealing to web programmers.
- User input validations
This assumes importance in a web form where the users are required to input some value. JavaScript can be used to ensure the user is able to only enter the correct and relevant information. For instance, in a field where a mobile number is required, it will only allow numerical input and that too of only ten digits. Any deviation in that will lead to a warning message being shown.
- Platform independent
Since JavaScript is handled by the browsers at the client’s side, there is no additional cross-platform compatibility to deal with. So, no issues using the same code with a Windows 10 device or a Mac.
- Using Date and Time
Thanks to JavaScript’s built-in .getDate() function, handling date and Time is easy, which is unlike several other programming languages.
- Less server intensive
With JavaScript, the browser handles much of the processing, which staves off much of that load from the webserver. With several other functionalities that JavaScript allows for, server load and hence network traffic can be greatly reduced.
- Detecting client-side browser and OS
JavaScript can be used to determine the browser and OS info of the users. This is helpful in those situations where the programmer might need to know the browser type before processing as not all browsers output the results in the same manner even though JavaScript is capable of running on all platforms.
- HTML content generation
There are several features available in JavaScript that can be used to generate dynamic HTML content for the web. This is handy in those situations where we need to add things like an image or a table after the completion of an event, like say, after a mouse click operation.
- Client-side calculations
With JavaScript essentially being a client-side technology, it can be used to perform some simple and basic calculations on the browser at the client’s end instead of on the server. This can be of immense benefit as there won’t be the need to ask for server time for each and every calculation. This also contributes to less network traffic as well, more so when there is the need for repeated calculations.
- Lightweight
With JavaScript being a client-side technology, capable of handling data at the browser, it is a lightweight scripting language with a limited set of libraries.
- JavaScript is an interpreted language
What this means is the JavaScript script written by the programmer is processed serially, line by line. The interpretation is done by the JavaScript Interpreter which happens to be integrated into all web browsers.
- Support for object-oriented programming
In JavaScript, there is Object Creation patterns and Code Reuse patterns that are available and conforms to two important OOP principles, that of Encapsulation and Inheritance, respectively. That said, such features in JavaScript are not used much though it’s still there.
- Prototype-based
JavaScript is considered a prototype-based language since here prototypes are used instead of classes or inheritance. What that means is in JavaScript, an object prototype is first defined which is then used to create more objects. This is unlike languages such as Java where a class is first defined and then objects for those classes are created.
