My Research on What JavaScript can be used for.
Yea. It is my first post on Medium and I'll love write on what Ive got to discover through my research on What JavaScript as a programming Language can be used for, the Strength of the Language and the Best Way you can Utilize the language to your own Advantage.
JavaScript is everywhere! Since the language was developed in 1995 by Brendan Eich to make websites interactive, it has gone on to do a whole lot more in recent years.Today, JavaScript is the most popular programming language in the world, and it’s being used to build everything you can imagine, from the obvious famous examples like Facebook, Twitter, and Medium, to Robots and IoT devices. its popularity has inspired a vibrant ecosystem of technologies, libraries, and frameworks.
I’ll love to share my knowledge and to start with, what you can do with JavaScript is beyond building for client server side of websites.Let me walk you through other areas that you may not have thought of or Explored. I Hope you’ll definitely this Post.
So here are the other cool things i discovered that we can do with JavaScript:
- Web Servers
What is Node.js?
To cut a long story short, Node.js is an open-source server side runtime environment built on Google Chrome’s JavaScript V8 Engine, created for building fast and scalable network applications.
It is simply a JavaScript runtime, Lightweight, fast and modern way to execute code on your computer.
Node JS makes building web servers as simple as writing about 10 lines of code but this doesn’t mean that you can’t create a much more robust server with a standard server application framework like Express.js or Node.js.
Lot of these applications that use Node are mostly built utilizing a MEAN stack (MongoDB, Express.js, AngularJS, and NodeJS), so Express.js is a key component in making this possible.
Node.js is a wunderkind in performance, especially when it comes down to facing the problem of a lot of parallel connections. Not only its performance is a blast, the truly simple API attracts a lot of developers, also.
High tech Companies like PayPal, Lnkdedln, Yahoo, Mozilla, Uber, Ebay and the like make use of Node.JS for running their Web servers.
2. Web Applications
As computers and browsers continue to evolve, JavaScript has made it possible to build robust web applications. AngularJS is a JavaScript framework by Google designed to create dynamic web apps. AngularJS is a complete solution for developing a front end based application without dependency on any other frameworks or plugin.
Websites like YouTube, Freelancer.com, Upwork.com, Jetblue.com, Netflix.com and the likes are examples of WebApps built using JavaScripts.
Other JavaScripts Frameworks for creating Web Applications are: React From Facebook, Polymer also from Google, NodeJS and Vue JS.
3. Progressive Web Apps (PWA)
A Progressive Web App is a web application which makes use of latest web technologies to make a web application act and feel like an app. This is achieved by making use of web app manifest files and service workers. Using that technologies a PWA is able to close the gap between a classic web application and a desktop. or native mobile application.
Progressive Web Apps are experiences that combine the best of the web and the best of apps. They are useful to users from the very first visit in a browser tab, no install required. As the user progressively builds a relationship with the app over time, it becomes more and more powerful. It loads quickly, even on flaky networks, sends relevant push notifications, has an icon on the home screen, and loads as a top-level, full screen experience.
4. Internet of Things(IoT)
Internet of Things is one of the latest and most useful technologies in our world. It is a vast topic with a huge scope for innovation pertaining to advanced automation solutions in a variety of contexts. IoT, as it is commonly called, has applications in various projects, such as transportation, home automation, smart cities and more.
There are some benefits of using JavaScript for the IoT which opens up a new career avenue for JavaScript developers. Several large-scale companies like Microsoft and Samsung have already embraced Node.js as a technology for their IoT development projects.
JavaScript is relatively a lesser complicated language than others which can simplify the Internet of Things and can help several IoT projects to become commercial and popular. The scope of JavaScript will continue to rise in the field of IoT applications in the coming future.
5. Field of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Do you know that apart from building websites you can build Artificial Intelligence bots with JavaScripts on Slack, Telegram, Facebook bot platforms without sweat.
Machine learning is teaching the computer how to learn by itself. It is far easier to be done, especially when you have small data set and a good level of expertise in your field. Pretty sure that many people do not know that with JavaScripts, machine learning with JavaScripts has been awesome. Awesome machine learning libraries have being written with JavaScripts.
6. Writting Apps for your Smartphone:
Writing native applications for mobile phone environments is a rocky road. It starts with the decision which platform you want to support. Should your application run on an iPhone and iPad, an Android powered mobile device, Windows Mobile, Blackberry devices, webOS based pla… and so on.
Each of this platforms has its own APIs and mostly uses different programming languages.
Let me tell you that this is a way harder fight to get in. It’s nearly impossible for a developer to build an application for all of these platforms in time and budget.One of the most powerful things you can do with JavaScript is build applications for non-web contexts. What this means is that ALL of your websites should be responsive (but that could be another blog post). Additionally, it means that mobile applications are as important a product as a web property for digital goods.
Here’s the good news: It is possible to have a ‘write it once’ solution for all three platforms. Apache Cordova previously known as PhoneGap is one of the oldest and well-established frameworks in this space. More recently React Native has come on the scene and shows a lot of promise of becoming the major player in the cross-platform space. Long story short: You can make mobile apps with JavaScript you can deploy and download right to their respective app stores.
Other Frameworks for creating mobile apps using JavaScripts are: Ionic
Here’s a list of apps made with React Native.
- Bloomberg
- Airbnb
- Bitt Wallet
- Discover VR
- Facebook Ads Manager
- Facebook Groups
- Walmart
7. Smart Watches
Wearable smart watches like Pebble run apps developed with JavaScript. In fact, they developed Pebble.js which is a small JavaScript framework to help developers build apps for Pebble’s line of smart watches.
Then there is Alpha WatchBench which uses JavaScript to help developers build iOS apps for the Apple Watch.
8. Flying a drone/Robotics.
If you have any JavaScript experience, you can now use your powers to manipulate the machines. From blinking lights to Sumo Bot battles, Remote control cats, and Bull fighting with Quadcopters…There are regular NodeBots events around the world where people meet-up to learn and hack together on Arduinos, Tessels, Edison’s, Raspberry Pis, NodeCopters, robots, and any other gizmos that just need more input…If you have no idea how to use an LED, have no fear NodeBot experts will be on hand to help you hack, solder, and 3D print your way to a full-fledged NodeBot. All you need is some basic JavaScript knowledge and desire to learn.You can learn more from this link (http://nodebots.io/). Also from this site (https://cylonjs.com/).
9. Arduino microcontroller platform
Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It’s intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.”
While the Arduino will only respond directly to C code, a language which many web developers don’t feel at ease with, using Node.JS, data can now be received through the USB port making it a much cleaner data transfer. This gives much more sophisticated options for JavaScript-based Arduino outputs.
We have a Node serial port library, where we can send data over the old SP protocol. This was the initial breakthrough, based on the library other people came up with a more abstract approach for Arduino’s capabilities. For instance the node-arduino and duino libraries.
The hottest and coolest library around the block for JS driven Arduino programming by now is jonny-five.
10. Creating desktop apps.
App.JS is an open source UI library that allows the creation of mobile apps for the desktop and doesn’t compromise on looks or quality.
App.JS allows the creation of a desktop app with CSS and HTML while offering the reliability that building an app across platforms provides.
Still in its infancy, App.JS has a long way to go but it won’t be long before it’s supporting all operating systems including Mac.
11. Webscraping and screenshotting
PhantomJS is a headless WebKit based browser with a neat JavaScript (or CoffeScript) based API.
But testing your JavaScript and DOM isn’t the only use case for Phantom. What really fascinates me are its capabilities to scrape websites and to let you take screenshots of it!
Phantom allows you to scrape websites but instead of having to save all the data to a local source you can do a simple screenshot and display the data in the most appropriate form for your project.
Conclusion
JavaScript simply can do everything, choosing JavaScript as your primary programming language leaves you open to switch to whichever platform: web, desktop, smartphone, IoT, etc. you fancy.
You can’t exactly say the same for most other programming languages.
Thanks for reading. I believe I have been able to open your eyes to other things you can do with JAVASCRIPT apart from just building front-end websites.
