Java vs JavaScript

Overview

Java

Stacks148.0K

Followers105.5K

Votes3.7K

JavaScript

Stacks392.2K

Followers284.0K

Votes8.1K

Java vs JavaScript: What are the differences?

Java and JavaScript are both popular programming languages. Here are the key differences between Java and JavaScript:

Language Purpose and Execution Environment: Java is a general-purpose programming language designed for building scalable applications. It is compiled to bytecode and runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), which allows Java programs to be executed on any platform. JavaScript, on the other hand, is primarily used for client-side web development. It is interpreted by web browsers and runs in the browser's JavaScript engine, providing dynamic behavior to web pages.
Typing and Object-Oriented Programming: Java is a statically typed language, meaning that variable types are explicitly declared. It follows a strong type system and supports strict object-oriented programming (OOP) principles such as classes, interfaces, and inheritance. JavaScript, on the other hand, is a dynamically typed language, allowing for flexibility and more concise coding. It is based on a prototype-based object-oriented programming model and supports object creation and manipulation at runtime.
Application Scope: Java is commonly used for developing large-scale enterprise applications, including server-side applications, web services, and Android apps. It offers extensive libraries, frameworks, and tools that facilitate enterprise development. JavaScript, on the other hand, is primarily used for web development and runs directly in web browsers. It provides functionalities for client-side scripting, manipulating the Document Object Model (DOM), and creating interactive web interfaces. JavaScript is also widely used for server-side development with frameworks like Node.js.
Concurrency and Multithreading: Java has built-in support for multithreading and provides a robust concurrency model. It offers thread management and synchronization mechanisms to create multithreaded applications for concurrent processing and improved performance. JavaScript, however, is single-threaded by nature, meaning it can execute only one task at a time. However, with the introduction of asynchronous programming using callbacks, promises, and async/await, JavaScript can handle concurrent operations efficiently.
Performance and Optimization: Java's bytecode compilation and JVM execution enable optimization for efficient applications. The JIT compilation in the JVM dynamically enhances code performance. Although JavaScript's interpretation may have limitations, modern engines like V8 (e.g., in Google Chrome) have greatly improved JavaScript's speed through JIT compilation and runtime optimizations.

In summary, Java is a statically typed language with a strong focus on enterprise-level application development and runs on the JVM. JavaScript, on the other hand, is a dynamically typed language primarily used for web development and executed within web browsers.

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Advice on Java, JavaScript

Nick

Building cool things on the internet 🛠️ at Stream

Sep 5, 2019

Review

I work at Stream and I'm immensely proud of what our team is working on here at the company. Most recently, we announced our Android SDK accompanied by an extensive tutorial for Java and Kotlin. The tutorial covers just about everything you need to know when it comes to using our Android SDK for Stream Chat. The Android SDK touches many features offered by Stream Chat – more specifically, typing status, read state, file uploads, threads, reactions, editing messages, and commands. Head over to https://getstream.io/tutorials/android-chat/ and give it a whirl!

176k views176k

Comments

Ido

Mar 6, 2020

Decided

When developing a new blockchain, we as a team chose Go lang over Java and other candidates, due to Go being (a) natively suited to concurrency - there are primitives in the language itself (goroutines, channels) that really help with reasoning about concurrency (b) super fast - build time, running, testing are all much faster that Java, this gives a far superior developer experience (c) shorter and stricter than Java - code is much shorter (less verbose), and there is usually one good way to do things, and even the code formatter that is bundled with Go is very opinionated - over a short time this makes reading other people's code far smoother than having to deal with different styles.

You should be aware that Go presently (v1.13) lacks Generics.

267k views267k

Comments

Mike

Enterprise Architect at Warby Parker

Dec 22, 2019

Decided

When I was evaluating languages to write this app in, I considered either Python or JavaScript at the time. I find Ruby very pleasant to read and write, and the Ruby community has built out a wide variety of test tools and approaches, helping e deliver better software faster. Along with Rails, and the Ruby-first Heroku support, this was an easy decision.

258k views258k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Java	JavaScript
Java is a programming language and computing platform first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995. There are lots of applications and websites that will not work unless you have Java installed, and more are created every day. Java is fast, secure, and reliable. From laptops to datacenters, game consoles to scientific supercomputers, cell phones to the Internet, Java is everywhere!	JavaScript is most known as the scripting language for Web pages, but used in many non-browser environments as well such as node.js or Apache CouchDB. It is a prototype-based, multi-paradigm scripting language that is dynamic,and supports object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles.
Statistics
Stacks 148.0K	Stacks 392.2K
Followers 105.5K	Followers 284.0K
Votes 3.7K	Votes 8.1K
Pros & Cons
Pros 608 Great libraries 446 Widely used 401 Excellent tooling 396 Huge amount of documentation available 334 Large pool of developers available Cons 33 Verbosity 27 NullpointerException 17 Nightmare to Write 16 Overcomplexity is praised in community culture 12 Boiler plate code	Pros 1670 Can be used on frontend/backend 1497 It's everywhere 1163 Lots of great frameworks 899 Fast 746 Light weight Cons 24 A constant moving target, too much churn 20 Horribly inconsistent 16 Javascript is the New PHP 9 No ability to monitor memory utilitization 8 Shows Zero output in case of ANY error
Integrations
Spring	No integrations available

What are some alternatives to Java, JavaScript?

Python

Python is a general purpose programming language created by Guido Van Rossum. Python is most praised for its elegant syntax and readable code, if you are just beginning your programming career python suits you best.

PHP

Fast, flexible and pragmatic, PHP powers everything from your blog to the most popular websites in the world.

Ruby

Ruby is a language of careful balance. Its creator, Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto, blended parts of his favorite languages (Perl, Smalltalk, Eiffel, Ada, and Lisp) to form a new language that balanced functional programming with imperative programming.

Golang

Go is expressive, concise, clean, and efficient. Its concurrency mechanisms make it easy to write programs that get the most out of multicore and networked machines, while its novel type system enables flexible and modular program construction. Go compiles quickly to machine code yet has the convenience of garbage collection and the power of run-time reflection. It's a fast, statically typed, compiled language that feels like a dynamically typed, interpreted language.

HTML5

HTML5 is a core technology markup language of the Internet used for structuring and presenting content for the World Wide Web. As of October 2014 this is the final and complete fifth revision of the HTML standard of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The previous version, HTML 4, was standardised in 1997.

C#

C# (pronounced "See Sharp") is a simple, modern, object-oriented, and type-safe programming language. C# has its roots in the C family of languages and will be immediately familiar to C, C++, Java, and JavaScript programmers.

Scala

Scala is an acronym for “Scalable Language”. This means that Scala grows with you. You can play with it by typing one-line expressions and observing the results. But you can also rely on it for large mission critical systems, as many companies, including Twitter, LinkedIn, or Intel do. To some, Scala feels like a scripting language. Its syntax is concise and low ceremony; its types get out of the way because the compiler can infer them.

Elixir

Elixir leverages the Erlang VM, known for running low-latency, distributed and fault-tolerant systems, while also being successfully used in web development and the embedded software domain.

Swift

Writing code is interactive and fun, the syntax is concise yet expressive, and apps run lightning-fast. Swift is ready for your next iOS and OS X project — or for addition into your current app — because Swift code works side-by-side with Objective-C.

Rust

Rust is a systems programming language that combines strong compile-time correctness guarantees with fast performance. It improves upon the ideas of other systems languages like C++ by providing guaranteed memory safety (no crashes, no data races) and complete control over the lifecycle of memory.

Related Comparisons

Language Purpose and Execution Environment: Java is a general-purpose programming language designed for building scalable applications. It is compiled to bytecode and runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), which allows Java programs to be executed on any platform. JavaScript, on the other hand, is primarily used for client-side web development. It is interpreted by web browsers and runs in the browser's JavaScript engine, providing dynamic behavior to web pages.
Typing and Object-Oriented Programming: Java is a statically typed language, meaning that variable types are explicitly declared. It follows a strong type system and supports strict object-oriented programming (OOP) principles such as classes, interfaces, and inheritance. JavaScript, on the other hand, is a dynamically typed language, allowing for flexibility and more concise coding. It is based on a prototype-based object-oriented programming model and supports object creation and manipulation at runtime.
Application Scope: Java is commonly used for developing large-scale enterprise applications, including server-side applications, web services, and Android apps. It offers extensive libraries, frameworks, and tools that facilitate enterprise development. JavaScript, on the other hand, is primarily used for web development and runs directly in web browsers. It provides functionalities for client-side scripting, manipulating the Document Object Model (DOM), and creating interactive web interfaces. JavaScript is also widely used for server-side development with frameworks like Node.js.
Concurrency and Multithreading: Java has built-in support for multithreading and provides a robust concurrency model. It offers thread management and synchronization mechanisms to create multithreaded applications for concurrent processing and improved performance. JavaScript, however, is single-threaded by nature, meaning it can execute only one task at a time. However, with the introduction of asynchronous programming using callbacks, promises, and async/await, JavaScript can handle concurrent operations efficiently.
Performance and Optimization: Java's bytecode compilation and JVM execution enable optimization for efficient applications. The JIT compilation in the JVM dynamically enhances code performance. Although JavaScript's interpretation may have limitations, modern engines like V8 (e.g., in Google Chrome) have greatly improved JavaScript's speed through JIT compilation and runtime optimizations.

Java vs JavaScript