JavaScript Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples - 2.33, by Herong Yang
ECMAScript Language Specification
This section provides a quick description of the ECMAScript Language Specification and its version history.
The ECMAScript Language Specification is developed and maintained by ECMA (European Computer Manufacturers Association). It defines a scripting language standard based on several originating technologies, the most well known being JavaScript (Netscape) and JScript (Microsoft).
ECMAScript edition history:
1997 ECMA-262 Edition 1 - First edition 1998 ECMA-262 Edition 2 - Editorial changes only 1999 ECMA-262 Edition 3 - Added many new features ? ECMA-262 Edition 4 - Abandoned 2009 ECMA-262 Edition 5 - Adds "strict mode" 2011 ECMA-262 Edition 5.1 - Aligned ISO/IEC 16262:2011 2018 ECMA-262 Edition 9 2019 ECMA-262 Edition 10
ECMA current definition of ECMAScript: ECMAScript is an object-oriented programming language for performing computations and manipulating computational objects within a host environment.
One very important note on the ECMAScript specification is that it does not provide any facilities to interact with the host environment. In another word, a pure ECMAScript code written only with rules and objects described with the specification can only perform computations and manipulate objects in memory. It will not able to exchange data with the host environment.
In order to exchange data with the host environment, each dialect of ECMAScript must extend the specification to add new facilities to interact with the host environment.
For example, The JavaScript dialect of ECMAScript designed for the Firefox browser host environment adds the "document" object and its properties and methods, providing access to the browser's current document.
Another example, The JScript dialect of ECMAScript designed for the Internet Information Server (IIS) Web server host environment adds the "request" object and its properties and methods, providing access to the server's current HTTP request.
If you want to get a copy of the ECMA-262 (ECMAScript Language Specification) Edition 9, please visit http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-262.htm.
Table of Contents
►ECMAScript Language Specification and JavaScript Dialects
JavaScript History and Versions
►ECMAScript Language Specification
Automatic Semicolon Insertion to End Statements
Data Types, Variables and Expressions
Creating, Accessing, and Manipulating Arrays
Defining and Calling Functions
Web Browser Supporting JavaScript
Server-Side and Client-Side Web Scripting
Defining Your Own Object Types
Inheritance of Properties and Methods through the Prototype Object Chain
'jrunscript' - JavaScript Shell Command from JDK
Using Functions as "Function" Objects
Introduction to Built-in Object Types
W3C's Document Object Model (DOM) Specifications