Outline of the JavaScript programming language

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to JavaScript:

JavaScript (JS)^[a] is a programming language and core technology of the Web, alongside HTML and CSS. Created by Brendan Eich in 1995,^[1] it is maintained by Ecma International's TC39 technical committee,^[2] with related Web APIs maintained by W3C and WHATWG.^[3] As of 2025, JavaScript is the most widely used programming language on GitHub.^[b]^[4]

What type of language is JavaScript?

Programming language – artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, more so a computer.
- High-level programming language – a programming language with strong abstraction from the details of the computer, such as having words, making it closer to natural language and easier to use than low-level programming languages (which are much more cryptic).
  - Compiled language – source code is converted (compiled) to an intermediate representation to be run.
    - Interpreted language – bytecode is executed by a virtual machine, which performs just-in-time compilation.
  - Dynamic programming language – allows various operations to be determined and executed at runtime, such as declaring data types, unlike in static languages, where the structure and types are fixed during compiling.
  - Multi-paradigm programming language – A programming paradigm is a relatively high-level way to conceptualize and structure the implementation of a computer program. JavaScript supports many paradigms.
    - Scripting language – programming language that is used for scripting, which is the act of writing a script, which is a relatively short and simple set of instructions which automate an otherwise manual process.
    - Event-driven programming language – the flow of programs is determined by external events, such as inputs from mice, keyboards, touchpads and touchscreens, and external sensors.
    - Imperative programming language – code directly controls execution flow and state change, explicit statements that change a program state
      - Procedural programming language – organized as procedures that call each other
      - Object-oriented programming language – organized as objects that contain both data structure and associated behavior, uses data structures consisting of data fields and methods together with their interactions (objects) to design programs
        Class-based programming language – supports object-oriented programming in which inheritance is achieved by defining classes of objects, versus the objects themselves
        
        Prototype-based programming language – includes object-oriented programming that avoids classes and implements inheritance via cloning of instances
    - Declarative programming language – its code declares properties of the desired result, but not how to compute it, describes what computation should perform, without specifying detailed state changes
      - Functional programming language – a desired result is declared as the value of a series of function evaluations, uses evaluation of mathematical functions and avoids state and mutable data
Dynamic, duck – type checking is performed at runtime.
Weakly typed language – enforces type rules at runtime.

History of JavaScript

ECMAScript version history
Failed proposals
- AtScript
Former tools
Persons notable for developing JavaScript

Javascript fundamentals

Issues and limits

Security issues

Specifications of the language

ECMAScript – this specification defines and standardizes the JavaScript language, such as its vernacular, syntax, and so on.
- ECMAScript version history
- Ecma International – the non-profit organization responsible for ECMAScript and many other communication standards.

Where JavaScript works (its runtime environments)

JavaScript works mainly in two main types of runtime environments:

in web browsers, which power JavaScript from webpages using a JavaScript engine. This is referred to as being client-side.^[5]
- List of JavaScript engines
on Web servers, referred to as being server-side
- List of server-side JavaScript implementations

Adaptive web design

JavaScript toolchain

Libraries

List of JavaScript libraries

Package managers

Bundlers

Webpack
Vite

Transpilers

Babel

Linters and formatters

Testing tools

Mocha

Build and development tools

Vite

General JavaScript concepts

JavaScript dialects and related languages

ActionScript – Object-oriented programming language created for the Flash multimedia platform
AssemblyScript – TypeScript-based programming language
ClojureScript – Dialect of the Lisp programming language on the Java platform
CoffeeScript – Programming language which compiles to JavaScript
Dart – Programming language
Elm – Functional programming language
Embedded JavaScript (EJS) – Webpage templating language using JavaScript
Haxe – Cross-platform programming language
JavaScript XML (JSX) – JavaScript syntax extension
JS++ – Web programming language
LiveScript – Functional programming language
Nim – Programming language
Opa – Programming language for developing scalable web applications
PureScript – Strongly typed language that compiles to JavaScript
Reason – Syntax extension and toolchain for OCaml
ReScript – Programming language that compiles to JavaScript
TypeScript – Programming language and superset of JavaScript

JavaScript organizations

OpenJS Foundation

JavaScript publications

Books about JavaScript

DOM Scripting – Jeremy Keith
Eloquent JavaScript – Marijn Haverbeke
How JavaScript Works – Douglas Crockford
JavaScript Bible – Danny Goodman
JavaScript: The Good Parts – Douglas Crockford
Laura Lemay's Web Workshop: JavaScript – Laura Lemay
Learn to Program with JavaScript – John Smiley
Pro JavaScript Techniques and Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja – John Resig

JavaScript programmers

Notes

^ /ˈdʒɑːvəskrɪpt/
^ Figure includes TypeScript, a strict syntactical superset of JavaScript that compiles to JavaScript. GitHub's 2025 Octoverse report groups the two languages together when measuring combined usage.

References

^ "Chapter 4. How JavaScript Was Created". speakingjs.com. Archived from the original on 2020-02-27. Retrieved 2017-11-21.
^ "TC39 - Specifying JavaScript". tc39.es. Retrieved 25 April 2026.
^ "JavaScript technologies overview - JavaScript | MDN". MDN Web Docs. 27 October 2025. Retrieved 25 April 2026.
^ GitHub (October 28, 2025). "Octoverse 2025: A new developer joins GitHub every second as AI leads TypeScript to #1". The GitHub Blog. Chart: "JavaScript & TypeScript have the largest combined usage". Retrieved 2026-04-25.
^ "What do client side and server side mean? | Client side vs. server side". Cloudflare.

External links

"JavaScript: The First 20 Years". Retrieved 2022-02-06.

Free learning resources

MDN Web Docs – JavaScript – The official and most authoritative JavaScript documentation by Mozilla, including tutorials, references, and examples for all levels.
Eloquent JavaScript – Online Book – Highly regarded free book by Marijn Haverbeke that introduces JavaScript concepts through engaging examples and exercises.
The Modern JavaScript Tutorial – A comprehensive and interactive guide covering modern JavaScript, from basics to advanced topics, maintained and continuously updated by the community.
The Odin Project – Full Stack Curriculum – A full open-source curriculum covering JavaScript through practical, real-world projects.
Awesome JavaScript Learning List – GitHub – A curated list of JavaScript tutorials, books, and courses maintained by the developer community.

[1] /ˈdʒɑːvəskrɪpt/ ^ⓘ

[5] Figure includes TypeScript, a strict syntactical superset of JavaScript that compiles to JavaScript. GitHub's 2025 Octoverse report groups the two languages together when measuring combined usage.

[JavaScript_origin-2] "Chapter 4. How JavaScript Was Created". speakingjs.com. Archived from the original on 2020-02-27. Retrieved 2017-11-21.

[3] "TC39 - Specifying JavaScript". tc39.es. Retrieved 25 April 2026.

[4] "JavaScript technologies overview - JavaScript | MDN". MDN Web Docs. 27 October 2025. Retrieved 25 April 2026.

[6] GitHub (October 28, 2025). "Octoverse 2025: A new developer joins GitHub every second as AI leads TypeScript to #1". The GitHub Blog. Chart: "JavaScript & TypeScript have the largest combined usage". Retrieved 2026-04-25.

[7] "What do client side and server side mean? | Client side vs. server side". Cloudflare.

[a]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[b]

[4]

[5]

v t e JavaScript
Code analysis	ESLint JSHint JSLint
Subsets,* supersets	JS++ Source* TypeScript (ArkTS)
Transpilers	AtScript Babel ClojureScript CoffeeScript Dart Elm Emscripten Google Closure Compiler Google Web Toolkit Haxe LiveScript Morfik Nim Opa PureScript ReScript WebSharper
Concepts	JavaScript library JavaScript syntax
Debuggers	Chrome DevTools Firefox Inspector (formerly Firebug) Komodo IDE Safari Web Inspector
Documentation generators	JSDoc
Editors (comparison)	Ace Cloud9 IDE Atom CodeMirror Brackets Light Table PhpStorm Orion Visual Studio Visual Studio Express Visual Studio Code Visual Studio Team Services Vim
Engines	List of JavaScript engines
Frameworks	Comparison of JavaScript frameworks List of JavaScript libraries
Related technologies	Ajax AssemblyScript asm.js CSS DOM HTML HTML5 JSON WebAssembly WebAuthn
Package managers	npm pnpm yarn Bun
Module bundlers	Bun esbuild Vite Webpack
Server-side	Active Server Pages Bun CommonJS Deno JSGI Node.js
Unit testing frameworks (list)	Jasmine Mocha QUnit
People	Douglas Crockford Ryan Dahl Brendan Eich John Resig Jesse James Garrett
Outline Index Wikibook