Common Uses of JavaScript
JavaScript is mainly used in the following:
1. Websites
JavaScript lets you add behaviour to the web page where the page responds to actions without loading a new page to request processing. It enables the website to interact with visitors and execute complex actions.
2. Web Applications
As browsers and personal computers have continued to improve, JavaScript gained the ability to create robust web applications. Consider applications like Google Maps. If you want to explore a map in Google Maps, all you have to do is click and drag with the mouse. You will see the part of the map that is less detailed and then fills itself in. That’s the work of JavaScript behind the scene.
3. Presentations
A very popular use of JavaScript is to create presentations as websites. Using the Reveal.js framework, this becomes really easy if you are familiar with HTML and CSS.
4. Server Applications
With the advent of Node.js a few years ago, JavaScript made its way from the browser into the server. Since then Node is adopted by major companies such as Wal-Mart, as a key part of back end infrastructure.
5. Web Servers
You can create much more robust servers using Node or the standard server application framework Express.js. Many of the previously mentioned Nodes are actually built using MEAN stack (Mongo Express Angular Node) of which Express is the key component.
6. Games
While the browser hasn’t been the traditional games platform in the past, recently it has become robust for games. Additionally, with the addition of HTML5 canvas, the level of complexity that is possible in the browser-based games has increased exponentially. There are even browser games that teach us programming.
7. Art
One of the new features of HTML5 specification is the canvas element, which allows the browser to render three-dimensional spaces. This helps to open the browser as a new source for digital art projects.
8. Smartwatch Apps
Popular smartwatch maker Pebble has created Pebble.js, a small JavaScript framework that allows a developer to create an application for the Pebble watches in JavaScript.
9. Mobile Apps
One of the most powerful things you can do with JavaScript is to build an application for non-web contexts.
That’s the other way of saying that you can make apps for things that aren’t on the internet.
For example – Mobile devices are now the most popular way to access the internet. What this means is all of the websites should be responsive. The catch is that the mobile app comes in two major applications, Apple and Android. And those applications are written in completely different languages.
10. Flying Robots
Yes, you read that right. Several commercially available quadcopters, some outfitted with a simple OS, make it possible to install Node.js. This means that you can program a flying robot with JavaScript. JavaScript is the most accessible programming language on this planet, having many features. So, it’s good to see that it is creating such a wide range of applications.