What is ECMAScript?

What is ECMAScript? or What is ES6 syntax? These are a few questions that many people have when they first hear someone say ES6 or ES6 syntax. In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at ECMA, the history and origins of ECMAScript, and the key differences between JavaScript and ECMAScript.

Before we move over to ECMAScript you first need to know about JavaScript. Here is a short description of JavaScript and its origin.

About Javascript

A programming language that was created in 1995. It was originally designed to be used in web browsers but is now also used in server-side programming, game development, and more. It has now become a language that is widely used all across the web to create applications and websites of all kinds.

JavaScript is a high-level, interpreted programming language that is also characterized as a dynamic, weakly typed, and prototype-based language.

The origins of JavaScript

JavaScript was firstly developed by Brendan Eich while working for Netscape Communications Corporation. It was originally called LiveScript but was renamed JavaScript in an attempt to make it more marketable. JavaScript was designed to be a lightweight scripting language that would run in web browsers.

JavaScript is a dialect of ECMAScript, which is a standardized language for scripting languages.

What is ECMA?

ECMA was originally founded in 1961, and its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. It is a standards body for programming languages. Its most well-known standard is ECMAScript, which is the standard for JavaScript.

What is ECMAScript?

ECMAScript is a scripting-language specification that was developed by ECMA International in order to create a standardized JavaScript implementation across all web browsers.

It is widely used for client-side scripting in web browsers, and it is also used for server-side scripting with node.js. ECMAScript is the successor to JavaScript, and it is backward-compatible with most JavaScript code.

ECMAScript 6 is the latest version of the specification which was released in 2015 that is widely adopted by all modern web browsers.

The Origins of ECMAScript

In the late 1980s, Brendan Eich of Netscape Communications Corporation was looking for a standardized scripting language to complement Java™ programming language in web browsers. His goal was to create a lightweight, interpreted programming language that would be easy to learn and implement.

Eich eventually settled on the name ECMAScript for the new language, which was based on the existing scripting language known as JavaScript. ECMAScript’s first version was released in June 1997. It is now used by many programming languages and web browsers and continues to evolve with new features and capabilities being added regularly.

What is the difference between JavaScript and ECMAScript?

One important difference between the two languages is that ECMAScript is more strictly defined than JavaScript. This means that ECMAScript code is more likely to run the same across different browsers, whereas JavaScript code may behave differently in different browsers.

Another difference is that ECMAScript has additional features that are not present in JavaScript, such as support for class-based programming.

Key features of ECMAScript

It has many features that make it attractive to web developers, including:

• Support for object-oriented programming
• Support for event-driven programming
• A rich set of built-in objects
• A standard library of functions
• Support for regular expressions
• Support for error handling

Conclusion

ECMAScript is a scripting language that is used by web developers to create interactive and dynamic web applications. It is a standardized language that is based on JavaScript, and it has been adopted by many major browsers including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and more. It has now become an important tool for web developers who want to create dynamic and interactive web applications.

Thanks for reading! I hope this was an informative and interesting read for you.

Happy coding! 🙂