With JavaScript’s 30th anniversary on the horizon, now seems like a good time to take stock of how much the language has changed. Here are 11 ways the JavaScript we use today is completely different from the language its inventors and early adopters could have imagined.
11 ways JavaScript is not what it used to be
- It’s not called JavaScript anymore
- It’s so massive that developers have to specialize
- It’s all about the frameworks
- It’s isomorphic
- Many new operators
- JSON is everywhere
- Builds and build tools
- JIT compilation
- Type safety
- The vast library ecosystem
- Other languages cross-compile to JavaScript
It’s not called JavaScript anymore
In the beginning, everyone called it JavaScript. Today, most developers still use that name. Officially, though, the people who create standards use the name ECMAScript. Some even spell out the official version number of the normative language specification, which goes up to 14. ECMAScript may not roll off the tongue or conjure memories of warm coffee, but it successfully differentiates JavaScript from Java. That way, JavaScript’s developers don’t have to worry about Java trademarks, logos, or any other form of trade dress. Well, except for the fact that ECMA International, the keepers of the specification, like to put that little registered trademark symbol next to the name: ECMAScript®.
It’s so massive that developers have to specialize
JavaScript today is so immense that it’s impossible for anyone, even developers who use it every day, to know every part of it. The arrival of server-side options and isomorphic code attracted so much new energy and development that one person can hardly know all the idiosyncrasies of writing code for the browser or the server—let alone both. Developers are forced to specialize in one of these two areas, even though they could, in theory, write code that runs across them. It’s pretty common for developers to spell out that they work on browser-based JavaScript frameworks, server-side JavaScript, or even database-side JavaScript. Hey, it’s a big world out there.
