Editing JavaScript (section)

=== Creation at Netscape ===
The first popular [[web browser]] with a [[graphical user interface]], [[Mosaic (web browser)|Mosaic]], was released in 1993. The lead developers of Mosaic then founded the [[Netscape]] corporation, which released a more polished browser, [[Netscape Navigator]], in 1994. This quickly became the most-used.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mwdwebsites.com/nj-web-design-web-browsers.html|title=The Evolution of the Web Browsers|last=Enzer|first=Larry|date=August 31, 2018|website=Monmouth Web Developers|access-date=August 31, 2018|archive-date=August 31, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831174847/https://www.mwdwebsites.com/nj-web-design-web-browsers.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

During these formative years of the Web, [[web page]]s could only be static, lacking the capability for dynamic behavior after the page was loaded in the browser. There was a desire in the flourishing web development scene to remove this limitation, so in 1995, Netscape decided to add a [[programming language]] to Navigator. They pursued two routes to achieve this: collaborating with [[Sun Microsystems]] to embed the [[Java (programming language)|Java]] language, while also hiring [[Brendan Eich]] to embed the [[Scheme (programming language)|Scheme]] language.<ref name="origin">{{cite web|url=https://exploringjs.com/es5/ch04.html|title=Chapter 4. How JavaScript Was Created|website=speakingjs.com|access-date=2017-11-21|archive-date=2020-02-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227184037/https://speakingjs.com/es5/ch04.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The goal was a "language for the masses",<ref name="EichVideo" /> "to help nonprogrammers create dynamic, interactive [[website|Web sites]]".<ref>"Netscape Communications Corp.", Browser enhancements. Encyclopædia Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD</ref> Netscape management soon decided that the best option was for Eich to devise a new language, with syntax similar to Java and less like Scheme or other extant [[scripting language]]s.<ref name="looklikejava" /><ref name="origin" /> Although the new language and its [[Interpreter (computing)|interpreter]] implementation were called LiveScript when first shipped as part of a Navigator [[beta software|beta]] in September 1995, the name was changed to JavaScript for the official release in December.<ref name="origin" /><ref name="press_release" /><ref name="techvision">{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080208124612/https://wp.netscape.com/comprod/columns/techvision/innovators_be.html | archive-date=February 8, 2008 | title=TechVision: Innovators of the Net: Brendan Eich and JavaScript | url=https://wp.netscape.com/comprod/columns/techvision/innovators_be.html }}</ref><ref name="wired2024">{{cite magazine |last1=Han |first1=Sheon |title=JavaScript Runs the World—Maybe Even Literally |url=https://www.wired.com/story/javascript-runs-the-world-maybe-literally/ |magazine=Wired |date=4 March 2024 |access-date=21 August 2024}}</ref>

The choice of the ''JavaScript'' name has caused confusion, implying that it is directly related to Java. At the time, the [[Dot-com bubble|dot-com boom]] had begun and Java was a popular new language, so Eich considered the JavaScript name a marketing ploy by Netscape.<ref name="EichVideo">{{Citation|last=Fin JS|title=Brendan Eich&nbsp;– CEO of Brave|date=June 17, 2016|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOmhtfTrRxc |website=YouTube |access-date=February 7, 2018 }}</ref>