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.^b4

• 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.

• ECMAScript version history
• Failed proposals
  • AtScript
• Former tools
  • Google Closure Tools
  • JavaScript OSA
  • JavaScript Style Sheets
  • Morfik
• Persons notable for developing JavaScript
  • Douglas Crockford
  • Ryan Dahl
  • Brendan Eich
  • John Resig

• Userscript
  • Bookmarklet
• Userscript manager
• JavaScript syntax
• JavaScript library

• Security issues

• 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.

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

• CSS framework
• Media queries
• Parallax scrolling
• Progressive enhancement
• Unobtrusive JavaScript

• Google Web Toolkit
• WebSharper

• List of JavaScript libraries

• Bun
• npm
• pnpm
• yarn

• Webpack
• Vite

• Babel

• ESLint
• JSHint
• JSLint

• Mocha

• Vite

• JavaScript templating
• CommonJS
• Comparison of JavaScript charting libraries
• CSS-in-JS
• Immediately invoked function expression
• Isomorphic JavaScript
• Prototype pollution
• Unobtrusive JavaScript
• Variable hoisting

• OpenJS Foundation

• 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

• Douglas Crockford
• Danny Goodman
• Jeremy Keith
• Laura Lemay
• John Resig
• John Smiley