Why JavaScript Is Still Relevant to Aspiring Web Developers Beyond 2024
—TechRound does not endorse or recommend any services or products. All articles are purely informational—
Since its inception in 1993, JavaScript has become the epicenter and driver of modern web development. With its rich playhouse of frameworks, libraries, and tools, anything you put your mind and efforts into as a developer is within reach. That means a future of more dynamic and interactive user content.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll let you in on why JavaScript is still relevant to you as an aspiring dev in 2024 and beyond. From simple websites to complex web applications, you’ll be able to build anything with JavaScript.
The Backbone of the Web
JavaScript plays an important role in dynamic programming. JavaScript’s standard implementation, ECMAScript, is the default language in all major web browsers.
With its HTML and CSS integrations, JavaScript allows developers to manipulate the Document Object Model (DOM). The DOM is what allows an application to dynamically update content and respond to user interactions in real time.
Besides this, JavaScript enables client-side scripting, which allows code execution in web browsers. Think of buttons, forms, and other executable parts of web content. These all work properly due to JavaScript. Also, both front-end UI and back-end server-side engineers will find JavaScript exceptionally useful, especially with frameworks like Node.js. For interactions that JavaScript can’t handle on the server side, you can use other languages like Python and PHP.
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JavaScript’s Versatility
A reason why JavaScript is so useful has to do with its versatility. JavaScript not only supports Object-Orientated Programming, but also functional programming.
OOP simply lets you model real-world objects with properties and methods. Thus, your code is better organised for complex scenarios. On the other hand, functional programming focuses on pure functions for transformations. Code is more predictable and cleaner, although there are far more limitations on the type of output available.
For example, in JavaScript, you could model a scenario of a bakery that sells cakes and cookies. You can define the object properties such as name, price, quantity, etc.
| // Define a Cake object |
| function Cake(name, price, quantity) { |
| this.name = name; |
| this.price = price; |
| this.quantity = quantity; |
| // Sell a cake and reduce its quantity |
| this.sellCake = function() { |
| this.quantity -= 1; |
| } |
| } |
In this example, we’ve defined “cake” as the object. This has different properties such as name, price, and available quantity. You can then define a “sellCake” function that automatically reduces the amount of cake in stock after a cake is bought.
Calling Functions
JavaScript provides a straightforward method to call functions that even noobs can grasp. Let’s check out the simple call function below to greet someone:
| // Define a simple function in JavaScript |
| function greet(name) { |
| return `Hello, ${name}!`; |
| } |
| // Call the function |
| console.log(greet(“John”)); // Output: Hello, John! |
That simple example defines a function with a name parameter and outputs a greeting message. Thus, calling functions is pretty easy in JavaScript.
Modern Features and Language Enhancements
As any developer will tell you, the software development landscape keeps evolving. New languages and enhancements are released each day and therefore developers need to constantly keep up to date to improve their productivity and ensure that their code is reusable.
One of these enhancements in JavaScript is the use of arrow functions; these offer devs a shorter means to write syntax compared to traditional function declarations. Let’s use arrow functions in the former example with the name = John.
| function greet(name) { |
| return “Hello, ” + name + “!”; |
| } |
| const message = greet(“John”); |
| console.log(message); // Output: Hello, John! |
Now, let’s see what the arrow function would look like in this case:
| const greet = (name) => { |
| return “Hello, ” + name + “!”; |
| } |
| const message = greet(“John”); |
| console.log(message); // Output: Hello, John! |
Also, asynchronous programming is an important reason why JavaScript is so popular in web development. Unlike in synchronous programming where code is executed line-by-line even for the lengthiest pieces of code, asynchronous programming allows for quite the opposite. Code can run simultaneously even for linearly related tasks. Thus, in synchronous development, a programme might freeze as it awaits previous tasks to be completed, making for a very unpleasant user experience.
Easier Programming in JavaScript With API Calls
JavaScript’s ability to make API calls is a game changer. API stands for Application Programming Interface and it allows diverse web programs and apps to communicate with each other. With API calls, one can reuse code or objects from a wide variety of external sources such as databases, social media platforms, or even weather services.
The Fetch API is the most popular for use with JavaScript. However, there are a bunch of other APIs that can be called, including:
- 3rd party APIs: These are offered by online services that allow you to access their data. For example, you can use Google Maps API for location (northing, easting, and elevation data) point data.
- RESTful APIs: These allow simple data retrieval and manipulation, using standard methods in HTTP like GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE.
The Fetch API is built into modern browsers and makes it easy for one to send HTTP requests and asynchronous requests. Below we see an example of the asynch, await, and Fetch functions in action:
| // Asynchronous function example |
| async function fetchData() { |
| const response = await fetch(‘https://api.example.com/data’); |
| const data = await response.json(); |
| return data; |
| } |
| // Call the function |
| fetchData().then(data => console.log(data)); |
In this example, we fetch data asynchronously using an API call. The fetchData function works with the asynch and await functions and pulls API calls in one go.
Frameworks and Libraries
Frameworks like React, Vue.js, and Angular enhance JavaScript’s capabilities and provide robust solutions for building interactive user interfaces. For example, React is popular for building component-based architecture with declarative syntax, thus allowing developers to build scalable and maintainable web apps. Libraries like Express.js simplify server-side development.
As an aspiring web and app developer, you can still dive into JavaScript and some of the key features and functions covered here.
Taking JavaScript to its next level, you can build practically any web application or app you desire. Expect newer languages and modern features to be introduced now and in the future.
—TechRound does not endorse or recommend any services or products. All articles are purely informational—
