JavaScript is one of the most popular programming languages because of its wide range of applications.
Before JavaScript was primarily used in:
- making web pages interactive
Nowadays, JavaScript is also used in:
- server-side applications
- game development
- mobile apps
- web apps
Now let's explore the uses of JavaScript in more detail.
1. Making The Web Pages Interactive
JavaScript is used to make the web pages interact with the user with various functionalities such as
- Form validation such as checking if an email format is correct or not
- Displaying a countdown clock
- Interactive maps
- Creating cool animations
- Different actions on the press of the button
- Use of dropdown menu
There are many other ways where JavaScript is used in making the web pages interactive.
Here is an image of a webpage that uses JS to make it interactive.
2. Making Server Side Applications
JavaScript is also used as a server-side language to build back-end development using node.js (a JavaScript runtime environment built on Google Chrome's JavaScript V8 engine).
The Node.js provides an environment for JavaScript to run on servers.
Before JavaScript was only used for making the web pages interactive. However, the use of JavaScript node.js is accepted as a good option for back-end development as well.
Companies like LinkedIn, Netflix, Uber, Trello, PayPal, NASA, eBay, Medium use node.js to power their applications.
3. Creating Interactive Front-End Pages
One of the growing uses of JS nowadays is creating super interactive front-end applications. For this, the commonly used JavaScript frameworks are React, Vue and Angular.
These applications load the resources as soon as the website is loaded which results in fast and responsive user interaction with great user experience.
Here is an image of a single-page application.
Some examples of single-page applications are Facebook, Google Maps, Gmail, Twitter, etc.
Various JavaScript frameworks such as Angular, React, MeteorJs, BackboneJs, EmberJs, PolymerJs, KnockoutJs, Aurelia could be used as the front-end technology to build interactive front end pages.
Two popular frameworks used for front-end application development are Angular and React.
Note: Angular is developed by Google and React is developed by Facebook. Hence, we can expect good and long support for this framework.
4. Creating Mobile Applications
JavaScript is also used in making Android and iOS apps. React Native is a popular framework built on JavaScript for this purpose.
One thing that is particularly interesting about React Native is that we can create both Android and iOS apps from the same codebase. This helps in:
- faster development time
- easy to develop
- cost effective
Some of the popular applications developed in react native are Facebook Ads, Walmart, Bloomberg, Instagram, Gyroscope, AirBnB, Myntra, UberEats, Discord, Townske, and many more.
Note: React Native is developed by Facebook. Hence, we can expect good and long support for this framework.
5. Game Development
JavaScript is also used for game development.
Various JavaScript libraries such as Three.js, TweenMax could be used to create browser games.
Other popular JS gaming engines and libraries are GDevelop, melonJS, ImpactJS, BabylonJS, PhaserJS, PixiJS, PlayCanvas, A-Frame.
Some libraries even allow you to export your games into other platforms such as Android, iOS, etc.
Here is an image of a game developed in JavaScript.
