Netscape and Sun Announce JavaScript (1995) • Hacker News Board

Re: Netscape and Sun Announce JavaScript (1995)

#51

Post by bawolff » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 1:26 PM UTC

overkill28 wrote: post #36

I still don't know why they stuck the "Java" name on JavaScript. Very confusing when the two languages are completely unrelated. > Java programs and JavaScript scripts are designed to run on both clients and servers, with JavaScript scripts used to modify the properties and behavior of Java objects, so the range of live online applications that dynamically present information to and interact with users over enterpris…

Yes, there was an api. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Archive/Web/LiveCon...

That said, the nomenclature was pure marketng bs.

Re: Netscape and Sun Announce JavaScript (1995)

#52

Post by BasDirks » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 1:26 PM UTC

This is an important document, because it disproves the prevalent notion that Java and JavaScript have nothing to do with each other.

JavaScript has come a long way, to where the shame of any self-respecting engineer has been reduced to a bearable minimum!

Re: Netscape and Sun Announce JavaScript (1995)

#53

Post by PopeDotNinja » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 1:26 PM UTC

netdur wrote: post #35

Orthw2020 wrote: post #19

What bothers me is that they actually never apologised. A simple statement of acknowledging the damage caused would do!

For what? Imagine a world without Javascript? You have mini extension in browser to just auto refresh gmail

Development would be so much faster without JS. It could be done in a Flash.

Re: Netscape and Sun Announce JavaScript (1995)

#54

Post by tbranyen » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 1:26 PM UTC

overkill28 wrote: post #36

I still don't know why they stuck the "Java" name on JavaScript. Very confusing when the two languages are completely unrelated. > Java programs and JavaScript scripts are designed to run on both clients and servers, with JavaScript scripts used to modify the properties and behavior of Java objects, so the range of live online applications that dynamically present information to and interact with users over enterpris…

Definitely, HTML has several tags to help work with external types. You can interface with java, vbscript, flash, pdf, etc. You could absolutely expose top level methods and invoke them in JS.

Re: Netscape and Sun Announce JavaScript (1995)

#55

Post by pqb » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 1:29 PM UTC

overkill28 wrote: post #36

I still don't know why they stuck the "Java" name on JavaScript. Very confusing when the two languages are completely unrelated. > Java programs and JavaScript scripts are designed to run on both clients and servers, with JavaScript scripts used to modify the properties and behavior of Java objects, so the range of live online applications that dynamically present information to and interact with users over enterpris…

> I still don't know why they stuck the "Java" name on JavaScript.

It is still funny to see a job offer with a mistaken Java and JavaScript posted in a title or in requirements section.

Re: Netscape and Sun Announce JavaScript (1995)

#56

Post by pluc » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 1:29 PM UTC

BasDirks wrote: post #52

This is an important document, because it disproves the prevalent notion that Java and JavaScript have nothing to do with each other. JavaScript has come a long way, to where the shame of any self-respecting engineer has been reduced to a bearable minimum!

I wouldn't say bare minimum, JS still is all stupid about types.

Re: Netscape and Sun Announce JavaScript (1995)

#57

Post by meed2000 » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 1:29 PM UTC

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #45

krapp wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, Javascript didn't require a compiler, and Java applets were notoriously slow.

I'm not sure JavaScript was any faster than Java at the time. I blame the failure of Java applets on Microsoft who deliberately undermined them.

Applets suffered a spin up of the mini VM time. And applets couldn't affect the rendering of the html page, they had their own 'canvas'.

I rather think JS was more appropriate as dev found more use in dynamically altering the very html markup that users saw, and after it was actually rendered.

Re: Netscape and Sun Announce JavaScript (1995)

#58

Post by x86ARMsRace » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 1:33 PM UTC

k__ wrote: post #24

pmarin wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

web ASSEMBLY is not much better name.

Maybe we get WASM CPUs in the future, haha.

Well, HTML5 super computers are the future.

Re: Netscape and Sun Announce JavaScript (1995)

#59

Post by Tade0 » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 1:33 PM UTC

I wrote my first actually-doing-something lines of code back in 2001 in JS, because unlike e.g. Pascal, JS (or actually JScirpt) would just run and not ask stupid questions about types or missing semicolons and required only a browser.

12-year-old me was very happy with such a low barrier to entry language, especially given that I didn't have an internet connection until years later, so I had to learn mostly via trial and error.

Re: Netscape and Sun Announce JavaScript (1995)

#60

Post by acdha » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 1:35 PM UTC

overkill28 wrote: post #36

I still don't know why they stuck the "Java" name on JavaScript. Very confusing when the two languages are completely unrelated. > Java programs and JavaScript scripts are designed to run on both clients and servers, with JavaScript scripts used to modify the properties and behavior of Java objects, so the range of live online applications that dynamically present information to and interact with users over enterpris…

Marketing. Java was The Next Big thing and they wanted to jump on board that bandwagon. The direct integration wasn’t very common but a lot of the JavaScript objects had similar names (toString, etc.) and JS was commonly explained as a sort of junior relationship.

Edit: expanding my not very common claim — I first started using JavaScript when it was called LiveScript in Netscape betas, the second non-static website I built was Java (using DB/2 on OS/2 — I sure could pick winners!), and I worked at a web development company until 2001. During that time, you'd commonly hear about Java (along with Perl, PHP, Cold Fusion, and even C++) and we used JavaScript heavily but I never once met a client who was actually using server-side JavaScript although they certainly existed.