history

In 1995, Netscape recruited Brandon Eck, who spent ten days in May 1995 designing the prototype.

Originally named LiveScript, JS was intended to be used in Netscape Navigator 2.0, released in 1995, with the intention of using it on the browser and server side (originally called LiveWire). But just before Netscape Navigator 2.0’s official release, Netscape changed its name to JavaScript in order to capitalize on Java’s Internet buzz word. Netscape’s gamble paid off, and JavaScript has since become an essential component of the Internet.

Because JavaScript 1.0 was so successful, Netscape released version 1.1 in Netscape Navigator 3.0. Around that time, Microsoft decided to move into the browser, releasing IE 3.0 with a JavaScript clone called JScript (so named to avoid potential licensing disputes with Netscape). Microsoft’s infamous step into the Web browser space was also an important step in the development of the JavaScript language.

After Microsoft moved in, three different versions of JavaScript existed at the same time: JavaScript in Netscape Navigator 3.0, JScript in IE, and ScriptEase in CEnvi. Unlike C and other programming languages, JavaScript does not have a standard to unify its syntax or features, and these three different versions highlight this problem. As industry concerns grow, it is clear that standardization of the language is inevitable.

In 1997, JavaScript 1.1 was submitted as a draft to the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA). Technical Committee 39 (TC39) was appointed to standardize the syntax and semantics of a generic, cross-platform, vendor-neutral scripting language. TC39, made up of programmers from Netscape, Sun, Microsoft, Borland, and other companies interested in scripting, spawned ECMA-262, a standard that defines a new scripting language called ECMAScript.

The following year, the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) also adopted ECMAScript as a standard (ISO/IEC-16262). Since then, Web browsers have struggled (with varying degrees of success and failure) to use ECMAScript as the basis for JavaScript implementations.

A time line

time The event
1906 The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) was established
1946 ISO International Standards Organization was established
1961 European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) was founded
1994 Netscape Navigator 0.9 released
1995.5 Js 1.0 has been written
1997 The EMCAScript standard was created
1998 ISO and IEC adopt ECMAScript as a standard
1998.6 ECMAScript version 2.0 is available
1999.12 ECMAScript 3.0 was released, becoming the standard for JavaScript and gaining widespread support. Powerful regular expressions, better text chain handling, new control instructions, exception handling, clearer error definition, formatting of numeric output, and other changes
2007.10 Draft VERSION 4.0 of ECMAScript has been released, with a significant upgrade to version 3.0. The official version is expected to be released in August. After the release of the draft, there was serious disagreement over whether to adopt the standard because the 4.0 target was too aggressive. Big companies, led by Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google, oppose big upgrades to JavaScript in favor of small changes. Mozilla, led by JavaScript creator Brendan Eich, is sticking with the current draft.
2008.7 Because the disagreement over what features should be included in the next version was so great and the debate so radical, ECMA met and decided to discontinue development of ECMAScript 4.0, release a small number of improvements to existing features as ECMAScript 3.1, and expand the scope of other radical ideas into future versions. Due to the atmosphere of the conference, this version of the project was codenamed Harmony. Shortly after the meeting, ECMAScript 3.1 was renamed ECMAScript 5.
2009.12 ECMAScript version 5.0 has been released. The Harmony project was split in two, and some of the more viable ideas continued to be developed as javascripts. Next, which later evolved into ECMAScript 6; Some less mature ideas are seen as javascript.Next-next, to be rolled out further in the future.
2011.6 ECMAscript 5.1 was released and became an ISO international standard (ISO/IEC 16262:2011).
2013.3 The ECMAScript 6 draft is frozen and no new features will be added. New functionality is envisaged for ECMAScript 7.
2013.12 Draft ECMAScript 6 released. There is then a 12-month discussion period to hear feedback from all parties.
2015.6.17 ECMAScript 6 has been released in its official version, ECMAScript 2015.
2016.6 The official version of ECMAScript 7 is ECMAScript 2016.