Java script code#
Java script download#

There are ways to interact with the camera/microphone and other devices, but they require a user’s explicit permission. Modern browsers allow it to work with files, but the access is limited and only provided if the user does certain actions, like “dropping” a file into a browser window or selecting it via an tag. JavaScript on a webpage may not read/write arbitrary files on the hard disk, copy them or execute programs. The aim is to prevent an evil webpage from accessing private information or harming the user’s data. JavaScript’s abilities in the browser are limited to protect the user’s safety. Remember the data on the client-side (“local storage”).Get and set cookies, ask questions to the visitor, show messages.

Java script download#

Send requests over the network to remote servers, download and upload files (so-called AJAX and COMET technologies).React to user actions, run on mouse clicks, pointer movements, key presses.

Add new HTML to the page, change the existing content, modify styles.In-browser JavaScript can do everything related to webpage manipulation, interaction with the user, and the webserver.įor instance, in-browser JavaScript is able to: For instance, Node.js supports functions that allow JavaScript to read/write arbitrary files, perform network requests, etc. JavaScript’s capabilities greatly depend on the environment it’s running in. It does not provide low-level access to memory or the CPU, because it was initially created for browsers which do not require it. Modern JavaScript is a “safe” programming language.

Java script code#

It even watches the compiled script as it runs, analyzes the data that flows through it, and further optimizes the machine code based on that knowledge. The engine applies optimizations at each step of the process.

And then the machine code runs, pretty fast.

Then it converts (“compiles”) the script to machine code.

The engine (embedded if it’s a browser) reads (“parses”) the script.

For instance, if “a feature X is supported by V8”, then it probably works in Chrome, Opera and Edge.Įngines are complicated. The terms above are good to remember because they are used in developer articles on the internet.

…There are other codenames like “Chakra” for IE, “JavaScriptCore”, “Nitro” and “SquirrelFish” for Safari, etc.

The browser has an embedded engine sometimes called a “JavaScript virtual machine”.ĭifferent engines have different “codenames”. Today, JavaScript can execute not only in the browser, but also on the server, or actually on any device that has a special program called the JavaScript engine. But Java was very popular at that time, so it was decided that positioning a new language as a “younger brother” of Java would help.īut as it evolved, JavaScript became a fully independent language with its own specification called ECMAScript, and now it has no relation to Java at all. When JavaScript was created, it initially had another name: “LiveScript”.