What it is
JavaScript is the programming language built into every web browser. It was created by Brendan Eich at Netscape and is standardized as ECMAScript by Ecma International. It handles everything a page does after it loads: responding to clicks and typing, fetching data from a server, validating forms and redrawing parts of the screen without a full reload.
Node took JavaScript out of the browser and onto servers, and React Native took it onto phones. That means one language can now cover the front end, the API, serverless functions and the mobile app. For a small team, or one developer, that is a real advantage, because skills and habits carry across every layer.
How I use it
- Maintained and extended the Brikers intranet toolset in JavaScript, HTML, PHP and MySQL.
- Built customer-tailored solutions in JavaScript and AJAX across thirty years of independent contracts.
- The live status board on this site is drawn by JavaScript from the last health check stored in DynamoDB.
- The five Lambda functions behind this site run on Node 22, including the agent that answers questions on the ask page.
JavaScript is the right tool whenever something has to happen in a browser, and often on the server too. I use it because it runs on every surface I ship to, and because the same code habits work in a status board, a Lambda function and a field app.
Questions
Do you work in plain JavaScript or only frameworks?
Both. Framework apps like Rental Pilot sit next to plain JavaScript pieces, such as the status board on this site. The choice depends on how much state the screen has to manage.
Can JavaScript run the back end?
Yes. The Lambda functions behind this site run on Node 22, and Lend Pilot's API is Node and Express.