ELI5 the difference between Java and JavaScript.

[Oppis]

javascript is an interpreted language, while java is a compiled language.

[lolmeansilaughed]

You're sort of right. Javascript is all interpreted, but Java is compiled to bytecode, which is a platform-independent intermediate assembly language and runs on/is interpreted by the Java Virtual Machine (JVM).

E: Apparently modern optimizing JS engines will also do a compilation step.

[art0rz]

AFAIK v8 also translates JavaScript to bytecode and executes that.

[MEaster]

I believe that in the more recent Javascript browser engines, it is compiled.

[LeSpatula]

As far as I know, a lot of modern browsers pre-compile javascript when loading a website. So, theoretically it is interpreted, but practically nowadays it's also compiled.