Future:Technological development moves at an unbelievably fast pace right now, the progress leaps that once took decades now only take a few years. Just think about where we were 10 years ago. In 2006 the first iPhone was still in development and smartphones were something of a new trend. Tesla just unveiled a few prototypes of the Tesla Roadster, people were using Windows Vista and JavaScript was a great front end language. In 2016 we have the Iphone 6 and Apple as the most valuable company in the world. Tesla sold 125.000 electric cars and will open their famous Gigafactory this year. Now we have Windows 7, 8 (not 9) 10 and JavaScript as a backend language. Although Netscape envisioned JavaScript also as a backend language it never got into a practical form, only after Node.js did we really feel its power in this department.
Technology evolves at a never before seen rate; we could say it moves at a faster pace than us as humans and as a society. It changes the world around us and it makes us see the future brighter and more exciting. Coding and programming languages are the foundation of technology, the cornerstone of all of the products that we use; products that change the world around us, that shape our society, behaviour and life. And JavaScript is a part of that, a part that defines our technological future.
But why should it be the future? Let me put it this way — it already is the future.
JavaScript is the king of client side languages on the web. It rules unchallenged. No matter what language you’re using on the server side, you’re going to have JavaScript on the front end. But why don’t use you JavaScript for implementation as well, JavaScript on the front end and on the back end?
One Language to rule them all, one language for the future. Netscape originally wanted to use JavaScript both client side and server side but that vision only came to fruition with the rise of Node.js. How easy it is to have full stack developers when you only need one language for both sides? The future is JavaScript.
Past its front end domination JavaScript is getting into everything, from browsers to tablets, to phones and desktops. Although any language can be adapted server and client side with the right implementation, JavaScript is the only one right now who offers a practical way to do both. As a language it’s getting a beachhead in many areas of technology, showing a very important principle — it’s not just about the language, it’s how you apply it.
It’s about the methodology, the implementation, the development, the endless frameworks, the community, the innovation. And JavaScript has all that, all the necessary factors and tools to shape the future of technology. The future is JavaScript, not just because it’s easier to have developers working front and back using just one language, but because of how JavaScript is growing within the community. Node is the best example of this, an example on how you can adapt JavaScript, or almost any language to a whole new purpose. Beyond Node we also have plenty of options to choose from: React, Angular, TypeScript, Ember, Mocha, Vue, Babylon and more
Its potential for the future is massive, one language for so many things doesn’t just ease work for developers, but it follows a principle that defines technological evolution — it’s not about the language, about PHP, Perl or JavaScript, (almost) any and all of them can be adapted for various tasks — it’s about the logic and thinking behind it. The language you use can set boundaries for your work, but nothing can set boundaries for the way you think. The fact that JavaScript offers so many tools and opportunities in development makes it the future, a-closer-than ever-to-universal-language that grows thinking about the future.