Is Java and JavaScript are same? Or are they siblings XD. Belive me or not, this is most confusing questions asked by beginner in programming world. The reason it is confusing is because of name “Java” in Javascript. So, Today I will try to answer this question in by comparing these two, with what, why and how. I hope you will enjoy.
What is Java?
Java is a general-purpose, object-oriented programming language commonly used for a console application, GUI application, web application, mobile application, and game application development, etc. It is similar to C and C++ but is a lot easier than them. Java was developed by ‘Sun Microsystem’ with the lead of ‘James Gosling’ in 1991. Java was developed with the motto of “Write once, run anywhere” which means you don’t have to rewrite the code to run on a different machine.
Also read- What are the differences between Library and Framework
-History
Initially, Java was named ‘Green Talk’ and was developed for developing digital device’s applications such as Television and setup box, and later it was renamed as ‘Oak’ but in 1995 it finally got renamed as ‘Java’ which we are familiar with.
-Features of Java
- It is an object-oriented programming language
- It is platform-independent means its code can be executed on any machine
- It is considered a most secured language than others
- It is a portable language as its source code are compiled into bytecode which then can be executed on any other computer
- It is a multi-threaded programming language, you can think of it as multitasking
-What is Java used for
- It is used to develop android apps, web apps, game applications, and enterprise software, etc.
- It is used in scientific computing applications
- It is used in Big data analytics
- It is used for programming hardware devices
- Also, it is used for server-side technologies like Apache, JBoss, GlassFish, etc.
What is JavaScript?
Javascript is a scripting language, (basically, all scripting language is a programming language, the difference is that the scripting language does not require the compilation step and is rather interpreted) developed for creating interactive web pages. It is client-side programming means the actual code is executed on the client’s browser (javascript runs only on the browser because the browser have its embedded engine which converts its code into machine code), however, it can also be used for server-side or backend programming, thanks to the node.js (a javascript runtime which converts its code to machine code without the need of browser)
Guess I made it complicated, didn’t I?
Okay, so In simple terms Javascript is a programming language developed to make the website more dynamic, easy to use, and more interactive to customers because before that website used to be very static and non-interactive. It is one of the 3 core languages used to develop websites along with HTML and CSS.
While HTML and CSS give a website structure and style, Javascript adds functionality and behavior to the website, for example, have you ever used web tools like editing photos online, online calculator, etc this functionality is made possible with this javascript. It is so popular for this that it is used in about 97% of websites because of this it is also known as browser language. It is not a standalone programming language means it is embedded (used) with HTML and CSS.
-History
If you take a look back on its history, it was developed in September 1995 by a Netscape programmer ‘Brandan Eich’. It is believed that Brandan developed this scripting language in just 10 days. And it was first named as ‘Mocha’, renamed as ‘LiveScript’, and finally again renamed as ‘JavaScript’. Man! Why don’t they stick with one name? Many believe that they put ‘Java’ in their name to gain popularity because Java used to be too famous when it was released and their campaign is very successful.
Also read- What are neural networks and how they work -without math for beginners
-Feature of JavaScript
- It is a cross-platform language means it can run on all most all system with little or no modification
- It can be used for both client and server-side programming
- It is an object-based (note object-based and object-oriented are two different things) scripting language, it support polymorphism
- It can control the response on the website, which means it can control the response on the interaction like link,option-click, etc.
- It is also believed to be the most simple language (but before learning it you must know HTML and CSS)
Download Cheatsheet for JavaScript
-What is JavaScript used for?
- It can be used to create Dynamic single page application (SPAs)
- It can be used for frontend programming with the help of technologies like, jQuery, AngularJS, Ember.js, ReactJS which are based on JavaScript.
- It can be used for server-side or backend programming with the help of technologies like Node.js, Express.js, MongoDB which are based on JavaScript
- It can be used for Mobile app development with the help of Phonegap, React Native, etc.
- It can also be used for game application development.
Difference between Java and JavaScript
Before learning about these I used to feel that they are siblings 😆, because of their names but it turns out that they are independent of each other and there’s nothing to do with each other and javascript got ‘Java’ in its name for just marketing. But despite that, they are different in many ways, like Java is a programming language while Javascript is a scripting language, Java requires the code to be compiled first before it runs while Javascript is JIT(just in time) interpreted language and executed on the client’s side. There are many other differences and similarities so let’s see them in the picture (you can save it for future reference if you want to)😊.
Data Scientist with 3+ years of experience in building data-intensive applications in diverse industries. Proficient in predictive modeling, computer vision, natural language processing, data visualization etc. Aside from being a data scientist, I am also a blogger and photographer.
