JavaScript (JS), a programming language developed 25 years ago, has become a core part of the internet. Today, a significant majority of websites use JS and it’s supported by all major browsers, including Chrome and Microsoft Edge. In fact, there are no commonly used browsers today that do not support JS. JavaScript, designed by Brendan Eich in 1995, is maintained now by the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA).
In January we brought Release Health to JavaScript. This month we’ve been thinking about the overall experience for JavaScript developers, some could call it JavaScript Jebruary. Think back to your last frustrating experience. It was probably caused by slow page loads or getting dizzy from staring at the ever-ending spinner. One survey showed that the average desktop load time on a webpage was 10.3 seconds and on mobile, it was 27.3 seconds.
In recent years, there’s been a shift towards broader adoption of JavaScript test automation frameworks. Today our customers are using Cypress, TestCafe, Puppeteer, and most recently, Playwright. Plus, they are often using these alongside existing Selenium and mobile test automation frameworks. The options for testing have increased, and depending on your unique testing needs, you may be adopting one or many solutions in your organization.
It’s January 2021 and you’ve probably broken five out of six New Year’s Resolutions. I don’t want to be the reason for breaking your last one, so I’ll cut right to the chase. We just released an update to our JavaScript SDK with the ability to track the health of your releases and support for Web Assembly. Still with me? Great.
JavaScript is a very useful programming language. Netscape developers invented JavaScript in 1995, and it revolutionized the web. Before JavaScript, webpages could pretty much only contain text, images, and hyperlinks. JavaScript empowered web developers to make webpages interactive, dynamic rather than static. Think of picture menus that animated when your mouse cursor went over it, and applets that could give you your local weather forecast or tell you which web browser you’re using.
Some devs use JavaScript in the browser; some use JavaScript on the server. What if you do both?
There’s no doubt which programming language is winning the battle for global supremacy right now. JavaScript has powered past the 12 million developers mark, and 5 million of its loyal fans (some 40%) have come aboard within the last three years. Initially thought of as merely a Java spin-out, it is now used to power everything from machine learning libraries to space exploration robots. But to truly maximize the potential of JavaScript, developers have to implement an effective testing regime.
