js42.js

// JavaScript interactivity



/*The purpose of this reading is to introduce you to a simple explanation of web page manipulation and some examples of it.

Did you know that JavaScript's initial purpose was to provide interactivity in the browser?

In other words, it was the "set of controls" that would allow web developers to control the behavior of the webpages and even the browsers that these webpages worked on.

This is still the case today.

As the web ecosystem developed and the world became ever more digitized, so did the myriad of ways that one can use JavaScript as a web developer to manipulate websites.

Initially, in the late 1990s, there was plain JavaScript that had to be tweaked to suit individual browsers.

Then, by the mid-2000s, the jQuery library came out, with the idea of writing less code, but doing more with it. It "leveled the playing field" as it allowed developers to use a single code-base for various browsers.

This trend continued and many other frameworks such as React, Vue, Angular, D3, and more came along.

Together with npm and Node.js, the JavaScript ecosystem is not slowing down.

Even though it has gone a long way, sometimes it's good to go back to basics. JavaScript is still the king when it comes to making our websites interactive.

Although CSS has developed significantly over the years, it is still JavaScript that allows users to: 

Get their geolocation,
Interact with maps,
Play games in the browser, 
Handle all kinds of user-triggered events, regardless of the device,
Verify form input before sending it to the backend of a webapp,
and more!
There are many, many ways in which JavaScript allows you to build rich, interactive experiences on the web.*/