Chapter 6. Browser-Side Scripts

The first browser scripting engine debuted in Netscape Navigator around 1995, thanks to the work of Brendan Eich. The integrated Mocha language, as it was originally called, gave web developers the ability to manipulate HTML documents, display simple, system-level dialogs, open and reposition browser windows, and use other basic types of client-side automation in a hassle-free way.

While iterating through beta releases, Netscape eventually renamed Mocha LiveScript, and after an awkward branding deal was struck with Sun Microsystems, JavaScript was chosen as the final name. The similarities between Brendan’s Mocha and Sun’s Java were few, but the Netscape Corporation bet that this odd marketing-driven marriage would ...

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