JavaScript : Java Glossary
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JavaScript
a scripting language embedded in HTML originally pioneered by Netscape, then adopted in variants by all the major browsers. JavaScript is very different from Java that can be interpreted by the browser. Questions about JavaScript should be directed to comp.lang.javascript  not comp.lang.java . I have a mental block against JavaScript. I don’t like the deception inherent in its name. I don’t like the idea of sending bulky source code around when you could be sending nice compact byte codes, though I must admit the openness has been great since every program acts as a programming tutorial. I don’t like the idea of proprietary Chinese-menu feature set Internet languages. Granted JavaScript is not as disgusting and dangerous as ActiveX since it has its own sort of sandbox — missing language features. I don’t like the way JavaScript is so often used to annoy the heck out of users by making it impossible to leave a site without rebooting. I find the things people tend to do with it are annoyingly cheap and flashy. So I have so far avoided it and usually have it turned off in my browsers. The only place I used it on my website are for webring nav bars there I had no choice. The EMCA standard version of JavaScript is called ECMAScript. Microsoft has a extension of ECMAScript they call they call JScript.

Superficially, JavaScript looks a bit like Java crossed with Pascal. Strings may be enclosed in either " or '. Semicolons are separators rather than terminators, as in Pascal. there is an explicit function keyword to make the start of each method. Each declaration is explicitly marked with the keyword var, as in languages designed for each of maintenance.

JavaScript causes havoc in pages when you use them off-line if they try to fetch material from the Internet, blocking page rendering. You can disable JavaScript while off-line with the defer parameter. Unfortunately only Opera and Firefox support in properly both on-line and off-line. Mozilla, Netscape ignore it. IE screws it up totally. To be fair, the original definition was that the script generated no output, so it could be postponed, until rendering was finished.

<!-- for conventional HTML -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="myScript.js" defer></script>

<!-- for XHTML -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="myScript.js" defer="defer"></script>

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