Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

JavaScript
     
         (Formerly "LiveScript") {Netscape}'s simple,
        cross-{platform}, {World-Wide Web} {scripting language}, only
        very vaguely related to {Java} (which is a {Sun} trademark).
        JavaScript is intimately tied to the {World-Wide Web}, and
        currently runs in only three environments - as a {server}-side
        {scripting} language, as an embedded language in
        {server-parsed HTML}, and as an embedded language run in web
        {browsers} where it is the most important part of {DHTML}.
     
        JavaScript has a simplified {C}-like {syntax} and is tightly
        integrated with the browser {Document Object Model}.  It is
        useful for implementing enhanced {forms}, simple web
        {database} {front-ends}, and navigation enhancements.
     
        JavaScript originated from {Netscape} and, for a time, only
        their products supported it.  {Microsoft} now supports a
        work-alike called JScript.  The resulting inconsistencies make
        it difficult to write JavaScript that behaves the same in all
        browsers.  This could be attributed to the slow progress of
        JavaScript through the standards bodies.
     
        JavaScript runs "100x" slower than {C}, as it is purely
        interpreted ({Java} runs "10x" slower than C code).
        {Netscape} and allies say JavaScript is an "open standard" in
        an effort to keep {Microsoft} from monopolising web software
        as they have desktop software.  {Netscape} and {Sun} have
        co-operated to enable {Java} and JavaScript to exchange
        messages and data.
     
        See also {VBScript}.
     
        {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:comp.lang.javascript}.
     
        Mailing List:  ("subscribe javascript"
        in body).
     
        (2003-04-28)