Java Vs JavaScript

Java Vs JavaScript

Comparing Java and JavaScript is like comparing apples and oranges. Both are different languages except few similarities. In this article, we will try to cover all the differences between both the languages.

Java Vs JavaScript – History :

Java first came into the picture in the 1990s, and James Gosling and his team are credited for writing the code of Java. It was first called Oak, and it was written to run in multiple devices like remote controls, television sets, etc. Initial development was done on the campus of Sun Microsystem. After Oracle’s acquisition of sun microsystem, Java is maintained by Oracle. Over a period of time, Several java runtimes have been developed by different organizations.

Brendan Eich created JavaScript in 1995 for Netscape Navigator. In earlier days it was called Mocha and, but the Netscape team changed its name to JavaScript to show the Netscape navigator’s Java programming language support. It was purely a marketing tactic to make the name sync with the popular programming language Java. It was designed for informal programmers and was considered as a “glue language” for component interaction over the web. ECMA is the organization which is responsible for the development and maintenance of javascript. Over the period of time different frameworks and scripting languages have evolved using javascript.

Java Vs JavaScript – Philosophy :

The main philosophy behind the designing of Java programming language was “write once and run anywhere” which means the language need not depend on any platform instead would run on Java virtual machine.

The main idea behind the development of JavaScript was to give an edge to the informal programmer and to increase the web components interaction so that internet is more interactive. It was the freedom void of any constraint in writing the code that made JavaScript quite popular.
Below are some of the significant differences you can find between Java and JavaScript

Java

JavaScript

Compiled programming language Interpreted scripting language
JVM is required to run the Java program Requires Just a browser to run a javascript
Static type checking Dynamic type checking
Best in concurrency programming Supports concurrency via the event loop
Class-based hierarchy Prototypal based hierarchy
Front end development in Java is declining, and it is no more quite popular for front-end UI programming. Initially was released to enhance the web interaction; thus over the years has become the popular choice for front-end UI programming.
Used in large enterprise applications, android apps, Scientific computing, embedded programming, Big Data analytics, and most of the middle tier programming architecture. Mostly used for front-end but making way into cloud programming, mobile app programming. Nodejs has gained popularity for performing certain tasks in the cloud environment and as a package manager.
Java runs on JVM only, and thus specific OS supported JVMs are easily available Javascript is supported by almost all browsers.

Java learning curve is simple and easy, but the latest version of Java from JDK 1.8 onwards with the introduction of Nashorn scripting engine it has enabled javascript type scripting and support for the same thus new learning curve would also require to follow the lines of the javascript learning curve.

The JavaScript learning curve is believed to be quite steep and each framework and library have different complexities when it comes to the learning curve.

Let us now discuss some of the similarities between Java and javascript

Both Java and Javascript support front-end development. Java has jsps, JavaFX to help in front-end development. Javascript community has a large number of frameworks and libraries like jquery, react, etc.. which provides a lot of options to develop front-end.

Both Java and javascript support object-oriented programming concepts. Though Java follows a class-based hierarchy, javascript follows a prototypal hierarchy, which means each object can inherit properties of other objects.

Both Java and javascript support server-side programming. Although Java is more favored for server-side programming as compared to JavaScript, later also has got good options for server-side programming and one of the popular platforms is node.js, which is supported server-side development work using Javascript.

java Vs JavaScript Conclusion :

Java and JavaScript have been in existence for a long time. Java’s popularity is still quite immense though in some areas it has given way to JavaScript. Major banking and financial transactions involve Java programming, and it can’t be replaced by JavaScript so easily. On the other hand, JavaScript gained popularity in the past few years and has tried to enter the cloud programming, server-side programming space with its node.js platform. Only time will tell whether JavaScript will be an ideal candidate to replace Java.

Leave a reply:

Your email address will not be published.

Site Footer

Not found