JavaScript vs Java - Differences, Similarities, and History

The naming of Java and JavaScript confuses many new programmers. They sound so similar, so one might think they have the same use-cases, similar properties, or maybe the same company created both languages. None of those assumptions are true! JavaScript is primarily used as a front-end in-the-browser language, like how we use it for Qvault’s courses. Java has been used for everything from games, to desktop apps, to backend apis. Let’s go over the differences between JavaScript vs Java in this quick read.

Java – Brief History

In 1991, James Gosling of Sun Microsystems created Java. Sun Microsystems wrote software for many different devices. Eventually, re-compiling or restructuring code to run on various CPU architectures became too time-consuming.

The founding team had a hard time thinking of a good name for their project, and while out for coffee, decided to name the language after their coffee.

Cross-Platform (JVM)

Java is a general-purpose programming language that allows developers to run code on any device. It compiles code into Java-specific byte code, then the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) converts that byte code into machine compatible code. Because it compiles code in this way, Java becomes completely cross-platform. This is a major contributing factor to Java’s success.

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