Javascript & jQuery Fundamentals

In this section of my blog, I will be describing two key tools of web development.I will describe the purpose and function of Javascript and state its key features. Further in this section I will describe the purpose and function of jQuery.

Properly constructed web pages are built using up to three different languages one of which is often Javascript. The main purpose of Javascript is to command the browser on what to do e.g. display content in specific order. Javascript is a dynamic programming language. It's called dynamic because it adds features to web pages, which move or involve some sort of interaction or animation. The purpose of using dynamic language to built up a website is to make it respond to user's input and actions. It resembles the real analogue world, us the people live in.

For example, when you attempt to push or pull something it responds in a way known to us as movement, it works the same way in web sites. For example, when you hover over a button on a webpage the title of the button becomes highlighted, underlined or a drop down menu comes off it, which purpose is to give the user a response and let them know that something is happening, otherwise the user could think that they are not doing something correctly or the webpage is not working. 

Some of the key features of Javascript include:

• The ability to detect user's browser, OS, screen size - this feature allows the webpage you're trying to load up appear in the most appropriate and functional way depending on different systems and platforms. 
• Gives the user more control over the browser - Depending on how a website is written and scripted in Javascript the user could be able to change the background colour of the page and text to their preferences.
• Validating user's input - This feature makes a webpage check for validation on the way (as the user is performing various actions). Validation check could be used on functions where the user needs to enter specific input e.g. numbers, letters and formats. This feature saves the user time by responding with an instant message of error, whereas if the input information has to be validated on the server, the user would have to wait for the server's response.
• Javascript is executed on the client side - This is a feature that distinguishes Javascript from other scripting languages. Instead of a web page having to load up its content from the server it's running/kept on the code is being executed on the user's processor, which again saves time.

jQuery is like add-on to Javascript. jQuery was not developed alongside Javascript for the first time, but it was developed later on after programmers realising it's very time consuming to write the code for a webpage every time, even when the code repeats. Thus jQuery was created, which is an extensive library of Javascript functions/code and allows for the easier and quicker creation of webpages. 

Most of the pre-existing functions/code are free and available in jQuery, which is why it's a web development tool no programmer attempts to write a website without. jQuery is very easy to implement and it could add great functions and features to any webpage.

References:

JAVASCRIPT: ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES, 05/05/2014, http://bit.ly/1rWUGsu

THE PURPOSE OF JAVASCRIPT, 05/05/2014, http://bit.ly/1mwuF6f

jQUERY INTRODUCTION, 05/05/2014, http://bit.ly/1narfCX

jQUERY FUNDAMENTALS, 05/05/2014, http://bit.ly/1g3FRPp