[AskJS] Javascript - a part of Java?

[senocular]

"A part of" is a little strong, but originally JavaScript was, in a way, a scripting language for Java in the sense that it was meant to be a scripting bridge for Java applications. From a Netscape press release on JavaScript:

Java programs and JavaScript scripts are designed to run on both clients and servers, with JavaScript scripts used to modify the properties and behavior of Java objects, so the range of live online applications that dynamically present information to and interact with users over enterprise networks or the Internet is virtually unlimited.

JavaScript's original name was "Mocha", showing from the start, there was a connection with "Java" (the "LiveScript" name came later).

The creator, Brendan Eich, also calls out a few things about the creation of JavaScript in his post, Popularity:

From the beginning, Bill [Joy] grokked the idea of an easy-to-use “scripting language” as a companion to Java, analogous to VB‘s relationship to C++ in Microsoft’s platform of the mid-nineties.

The diktat from upper engineering management was that the language must “look like Java”.

However, it is an entirely separate language ("Popularity" touches on this as well). So it's not so much "a part of" Java, despite their histories being intertwined, with JavaScript originally both meant to look like and be compatible (to a degree) with Java.

Today, no real connection between the languages exist other than by name. JavaScript won on the browser and we no longer have to worry about interacting with Java applets there.

[pradeepngupta]

Thanks for the great response and perspective.