When I first heard about and began to study Javascript, I immediately thought, “This should be easy, obviously Javascript should be just like Java, and since I have a couple years worth of experience, I should be able to understand everything about Javascript in no time!”. However, I was very wrong. Comparing it to other programming languages I know, it is somewhat similar to Java, but it is not exactly the same. As we can tell by the names, Java is an object-oriented language, but Javascript is a scripted object-oriented language. This means that Javascript does not need to be compiled before running, unlike Java or C. Another difference between the two is that Java is static and Javascript is dynamic. This makes sense since, as we know, Java needs to be compiled before running, therefore, it is a static programming language. Javascript, however, can run without being compiled, which means it is a dynamic programming language.
Looking at Javascript from a software engineering perspective, it is an excellent language since it can easily create interesting websites and other applications through its simple scripting abilities. Those with some Java experience should transition pretty easily over to Javascript and those with even no experience in programming can start with Javascript since it is a high-level programming language. In conclusion, to answer the title “Is Javascript Java’s Cooler Younger Brother?”, although Javascript does have some advantages over Java and other programming languages, it would not exactly be fair to compare them side to side, especially since my experience in programming is very limited in the benefits of scripting languages. Hopefully one day I will be able to fully recognize and understand the benefits of Javascript and its use in software engineering over other programming languages.