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In 1994, Netscape released version 0.9 of its Navigator browser. It was the first full-fledged web browser in history, and it was a hit. However, this version of the browser can only be used for browsing and does not have the ability to interact with visitors. . Netscape desperately needed a web scripting language that would allow browsers to interact with the web.

Netscape at the time had two options: 1. Take the existing language and allow them to embed web pages; 2. Invent a new web scripting language. The company’s top brass were at loggerheads over which option to pursue. In 1995, Sun officially launched Oak as Java, promising it could be “written Once, Run Anywhere.” Netscape decided to work with Sun not only to allow Java to run directly in the browser as applets, but also to use Java as embedded scripting in the browser, which would have made HTML so bloated that it had to be abandoned.

Brendan Eich, 34, was hired by Netscape in April 1995 to investigate the possibility of using Scheme as a web scripting language.

(This is the father of JS: Brendan Eich)

A month later, the company appointed Brendan Eich as the designer of the future web scripting language, and demanded that the future web scripting language be similar enough to Java’s popularity, but simpler. JavaScript was originally named Mocha, which is a type of coffee, and Java is also a type of coffee. Brendan Eich’s main focus and interest before joining Netscape was functional programming, so he had no interest in Java at all. To deal with the company, he spent 10 days designing JavaScript.

Design ideas

Brendan Eich’s idea for designing JavaScript goes like this:

  1. Learn from the basic syntax of C language;

  2. Using the Java language for data types and memory management;

  3. Using Scheme language to elevate functions to the status of “first class”;

  4. Reference Self language, using prototype – based inheritance mechanism.

Browser wars

In August 1996, Microsoft released Internet Explorer 3 with support for its own web scripting language: JScript. The browser wars begin.

In November 1996, Netscape submitted a language standard to ECMA International (formerly the European Computer Manufacturers Association). Due to copyright issues, the JS language standard is not called JavaScript, but ECMAScript.

In an effort to counter Netscape, Microsoft has made two key moves: first, it will make Internet Explorer free (previously netscape’s browser cost $45) and second, it will bundle Windows with Internet Explorer. This move is tantamount to a market attack by Microsoft using its monopoly advantage. 85% of the world’s computers are installed with Windows95. Microsoft is using this de facto monopoly to create another monopoly. A series of offensives led to the defeat of Netscape by 1998, when Internet Explorer took over half the market for web browsers.

Before dying, Netscape made FireFox open source in a last-ditch attempt, but with little success, at the end of 1998, AOL announced that it was buying Netscape. Since then, Brendan Eich has been helping to keep Firefox running.

Netscape’s defeat ushered in the golden decades for Microsoft. In 2001, IE6 was released with XP. In 2004, IE6 quickly occupied more than 80% of the global browser share. IE6 is a landmark release that is powerful, buggy and, most importantly, not compliant with W3C standards. XP’s popularity made Internet Explorer so dominant that Microsoft fired most of the browser’s staff, leaving only a few people to do token maintenance and fix bugs. At the same time, because of XP piracy in China, IE6 has always occupied the browser market for many years, which is the nightmare of domestic developers.

The king has fallen

When Microsoft disbanded the IE6 team, Firefox seemed to see the light at the end of the tunnel, ready to rise from the ashes and beat IE again. This led Microsoft to reassemble the IE team, which released IE7 and IE8, but not the same team, and IE continued to have problems. At this moment, a formidable opponent emerged.

Following in Netscape’s footsteps, Google hired some firefox and Internet Explorer developers in 2004. It launched its own browser, Google Chrome, in 2008 and took on Microsoft in the United States. Chrome beat Windows’ built-in browser with speed and security, and quickly took market share away from Internet Explorer and Firefox. Chrome’s global share was 62% in 2016. Chrome opens pages faster than Internet Explorer, and is actively following and even leading W3C and ECMA standards. It is supported by a large number of developers. But the bigger threat comes from a new wave of powerful smartphones. It’s clear that Microsoft seriously underestimated the iPhone and its integrated Safari browser.

2010 apple released the iPhone4. That same year, Android controlled 80 percent of the global smartphone market. At this point, Microsoft teamed up with Nokia and decided to go for it. Two years later, The company was dead. On September 3, 2013, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Nokia’s devices and services division for about 5.44 billion euros and the licensing of related patents and brands. As such, Microsoft has been almost absent from the mobile web. As a result, mobile apps with a large market no longer need to be compatible with IE, which is great news for developers.

JavaScript rise

The rise of Chrome and the rise of the mobile Internet has led to a boom in the front-end industry and a rebirth of JavaScript as fate’s chosen child.

  • When Google announced its Gmail web page in 2004, it was a big surprise: The Web could still be used this way.
  • In 2005, Jesse named the technology Google was using AJAX, and that’s when the front-end technology came into being.
  • JQuery was released in 2006 and has been on a tear for a decade

Part of this article is extracted from

The history of JavaScript

JavaScript were born

10 Design Flaws with JavaScript