# Getting Started with JavaScript Programming is one of the most demanding career option in recent times with the huge amount of money flowing in and out of the IT industry. And we use several programming languages, tools and frameworks to develop the next big app that's going to shape the future. One of such programming languages is **JavaScript**. It is one of the most popular and high-paying programming languages at the time of writing. In this article, we will dive deep into what **JavaScript **exactly is and what's all the hype around it. ## What is **JavaScript**? **JavaScript **is a scripting language, invented by **[Brendan Eich](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Eich)** in 1995 intending to make the internet and its web pages alive. Nowadays, almost every website you would come across is using **JavaScript **directly or indirectly. HTML(HyperText Markup Language) is known to be the skeleton of web pages, similarly, **JavaScript **is basically the brain of any webpage. If you call yourself a web developer, you better be good at **JavaScript **as it is compulsory nowadays to learn **JavaScript**. It is the first programming language you would need to learn to be a web developer, after mastering **HTML **and **CSS**. **JavaScript **is one of the most important and highly used programming languages in the world. We all come across Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Amazon and many more websites daily and there is one common thing among them -- All of these websites are made using **JavaScript**. Technically anything we interact with today on the web is **99%** likely will be using JavaScript. From today we are starting a complete walkthrough of the **JavaScript **programming language from scratch, in which we will start with very basics of JS like variables, comments, conditional expressions, loops, and functions and then slowly we will proceed to advanced topics like hoisting, closure, object-oriented programming and much more. But before we dive into it, it will be good to get an understanding of how **JavaScript **came into existence, and how in a very small period of time it became one of the most loved programming languages in the world and is still in continuation. ## History of JavaScript In 1995, Netscape communications were one of the most popular web browsers in the world, and at that time Microsoft was also doing a very hard try on their own browser Internet Explorer, and due to this to make the Netscape communicator the best and preferred choice for developers, the founder of the Netscape Communicator Marc Andreessen wanted to make the web pages more dynamic by improving user interaction on websites, and this is how **JavaScript** was born. ![Brendan Eich - Founder of JavaScript.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1658651516459/Ud7AzzjYh.png align="left") **Brendan Eich** created **JavaScript **in May 1995 at Netscape Communications and was initially named LiveScript because it was developed to make the then-existing websites alive, interactive, and better responsive to users. Later in December 1995, it was renamed **JavaScript**, the reason at that time the language Java was on trend, and naming this language as JavaScript would automatically do good with the promotions. ## Usage of JavaScript **JavaScript **is an amazing programming language that we can use to make robust and feature-rich web applications. If you want to be a good and efficient web developer **JavaScript **is a language you should be comfortable with. In this tutorial series, we will be starting with JavaScript from the very basics and will move to some highly advanced topics. While working with **JavaScript**, you might have heard of the term **ES **or **ECMAScript**, so let's understand that as well. ## What is ECMAScript ![EcmaScript.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1658653302584/uFasxo1fU.png align="left") **[ECMAScript](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECMAScript)** is a standard of JavaScript, meaning it is a standard on which JavaScript is based. Now the question arises... **Why do we need a standard?** The reason is, back in 1995 when **JavaScript **was first introduced, different organizations and people were trying to add new features to the language, and if that practice continued then it would have created some series of issues. Imagine my browser supports some features of **JavaScript **which your browser does not support, and similarly, your browser's JavaScript contains certain features that I don't. This meant that **JavaScript **was lacking a universal standard. And that is why **[ECMA](https://www.ecma-international.org/publications-and-standards/standards/ecma-262/)**(European Computer Manufacturer's Association) was created as a standard, that whatever features will be added, they will be first added to the **ECMAScript **standard, and from there it will be implemented into the **JavaScript **language. ## Different Ways to Execute JavaScript - **JavaScript **can directly be executed inside a browser. One can press `ctrl` + `shift` + `J` or F12 (on windows) and `Command` + `Option` + `J` (on Mac) to open the developer console and can start writing **JavaScript **code there. - To locally run **JavaScript**, we can install run-time environments like NodeJs and then can use them to run **JavaScript **inside our system. - We can also use the `