Introduction to JavaScript | Basic JavaScript Concepts

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May 4, 2024

7 min read

JavaScript

JavaScript is a scripting language developed by Netscape for creating dynamic web pages. It is used to develop interactive web pages by adding programming to HTML. JavaScript helps to build dynamic web pages by ensuring maximum user interactivity. JavaScript is a scripting language that supports an object-oriented programming style. This means that it provides objects for specifying functionalities. An object has a unique identity, state, and behavior.

JavaScript being a lightweight programming language is embedded directly into HTML pages. JavaScript is also free for use by all. It is the most popular scripting language and is supported by major browsers. JavaScript is a scripting language used in websites and web applications. It allows web pages to be more interactive and independent of a web server. The JavaScript code can be embedded in hypertext markup language HTML markup or stored in a separate file. JS extension. By default, all web browsers have built-in JavaScript support.

Functionality of JavaScript

JavaScript helps to include additional expression and functionality to your web pages. Some of the tasks that can be performed using JavaScript and HTML 5 are as follows:

With HTML5 and JavaScript, you can create a 2D drawable surface on your page without using any plugins.
Use web workers to turbocharge JavaScript code to perform advanced computation or make an application more responsive.
Access any web service and bring that data back to your application in real-time.
No necessity for special plugins to play videos.
Create your video playback controls using HTML and JavaScript.
There is no requirement to use browser cookies as the browser's local storage can be used.
Use JavaScript to perform full video processing in the browser. You can also create special effects and even directly manipulate video pixels.

Besides the points mentioned JavaScript can also perform the following functionalities:

JavaScript helps web designers to insert code snippets into HTML web pages without requiring to have in-depth programming knowledge.
JavaScript can be used to execute events on certain user actions such as clicking an HTML element, page load, and so on.
HTML elements can be manipulated by using JavaScript.
The browser information of a website visitor can be collected by using JavaScript.

Basic JavaScript Concepts: Values, Variable, and Control Flow

Data is classified into six major data types in JavaScript: numbers, strings, booleans, objects, functions, and undefined values.

1. Numbers:

Numeric values are defined as numbers in JavaScript. The number type serves both integer and floating-point numbers. A number can be defined with a decimal or without a decimal as follows:
var x = 1234;
var y = 12.34;

2. Strings:

In JavaScript, one or more character values are represented by the string type. for example:
var a="abcd";
var b=' ';

3. Booleans:

Boolean data type represents a true or false value. You can create a boolean variable as follows:
var outcome = true;
Boolean(2>4);

4. Objects:

Objects are special data types used for the collection of various data. The example demonstrates an object:
var vehicle = {type: "Honda", model: "Civic", color: "black"};

5. Functions:

A function is a block of code data used to perform a specific task. It can be used wherever required in the script for performing a task repeatedly.
function mul(n1,n2)
{
return n1*n2;
}