Chapter 1. What Is JavaScript?

Computers are incredibly powerful machines, capable of performing amazing feats like playing competitive chess, serving thousands of web pages, or making millions of complex calculations in less than a few seconds. But deep down, computers are actually pretty dumb. Computers can only do exactly what we humans tell them to do. We tell computers how to behave using computer programs, which are just sets of instructions for the computers to follow. Without programs, computers can’t do anything at all!

Meet JavaScript

Even worse, computers can’t understand English or any other spoken language. Computer programs are written in a programming language like JavaScript. You might not have heard of JavaScript before, but you’ve ...

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