Page Content

Tutorials

Understanding The Key Difference Between Java vs. JavaScript

Java vs. JavaScript

The fact that JavaScript and Java are two entirely distinct languages in terms of philosophy. They are not linked in any manner, even if their names are similar.

The term “JavaScript” is regarded as highly deceptive and is characterised as a marketing and political mishap. Since Java was already widely used when JavaScript was developed, it was decided to market the new language as Java’s “younger brother” in order to encourage adoption. Before being rebranded, JavaScript was known as LiveScript. Technically, “JavaScript” is a trademark leased from Sun Microsystems (now Oracle) to describe Netscape’s software (now Mozilla).

Due to trademark difficulties, Netscape provided ECMA with the language as “ECMAScript” for standardisation. For the same reasons, Microsoft’s version was officially referred to as “JScript”. Everyone simply refers to the language as JavaScript in practice. JavaScript developed into a completely separate language that has nothing to do with Java. “Carnival” and “Car” are comparable to the relationship between JavaScript and Java.

Java vs. JavaScript
Java vs. JavaScript

The following significant variations are noted:

Type of Language

The primary description of JavaScript is that it is a scripting language. It is regarded as a programming language that is lightweight. Java is a sophisticated and difficult programming language like C and C++.

Model of Execution

JavaScript is a language that is interpreted. This implies that scripts run without first compiling, and a “engine” or “interpreter” reads the code line by line. A compiled language, Java. Compiling languages produces executable binary programs from code. The fact that JavaScript doesn’t require compilation or preprocessing distinguishes it from Java.

Typing

Java is characterised as a language with a lot of typing. JavaScript is characterized as a dynamic or untyped language.

Practice Syntax and Programming

Java needs more rigorous programming methods and has a more complicated syntax. JavaScript is renowned for having an extremely straightforward syntax that non-programmers can learn and use. Although JavaScript’s grammar is derived from Java, this similarity is said to be superficial. JavaScript also borrows prototype-based inheritance from Self and first-class functions from Scheme, among other languages.

Platform Autonomy

Because of its Java Virtual Machine (JVM), Java is a compiled language that is platform independent, in contrast to compiled programs that are typically platform (operating system) specific. The interpreter for JavaScript is provided by the browser. JavaScript is extensively integrated and optimised for web browsers, where it was first developed to function natively. But JavaScript may now run in other contexts, such as Node.js, outside of the browser.

Initial Goal

Originally created as a “glue language” for slightly more interactive HTML, JavaScript was meant to support Java, which was meant to handle the main interactive components of the client-side web. JavaScript was created to add interactivity to HTML pages. Since then, JavaScript has developed into a powerful, effective, and versatile general-purpose language appropriate for serious software engineering, surpassing its scripting origins.

Note that certain tools, such as Rhino, are Java-based JavaScript interpreters that expose the whole Java API to JavaScript programs. Although this is an illustration of JavaScript being integrated into a Java environment, it does not suggest a fundamental connection between the two languages.

In conclusion, JavaScript and Java are essentially separate languages in their essence, design, and implementation, even though the term was chosen for marketing purposes.