“Any application that can be written in JavaScript, will eventually be written in JavaScript” — Jeff Atwood, Co-Founder of Stack Overflow

While our curriculum is JavaScript, we like to say that Code Chrysalis is officially language agnostic. This means that we welcome, push, and encourage students to use the skills that they learn with us to explore the vast technical landscape by themselves. We focus on building versatility in fundamentals and believe that JavaScript is the best language for us to deliver that mindset.

Why JavaScript? Here is a quick explanation of our thoughts.

1. Job market - Japan and Global

JavaScript (and Typescript, which we also cover during our Immersive Course) accounts for 33% of the job offers available on the market that explicitly requires a specific language. That makes JavaScript the most popular programming language among web developers and engineers - not only in Japan but globally.

Most Demanded Programming Languages - Global

Source: www.devjobsscanner.com

(Description: Graph representing most demanded programming languages in 2022 (Global) 1. JavaScript 2. Python 3. Java 4. C# 5. PHP 6. C/C++)

Most Demanded Programming Languages - Japan

Source: tokyodev.com

(Description: Graph representing most popular programming languages in Japan - 1. JavaScript 2. HTML/CSS 3. Python 4.TypeScript 5. SQL 6.Bash/Shell 7. Ruby 8. Java)

2. Low Entry Barriers for Beginners

It is significantly easier to start writing your code in JavaScript. As mentioned above, everyone already carries around a JS (JavaScript) engine on their computers - it's running in the browser. Thus, it is easy to get set up and quickly start writing JavaScript code. All you need is a browser and a text editor (and the most popular ones, Sublime and Atom, are free and easy to use).

3. You Cannot Avoid JavaScript!

You cannot avoid learning JavaScript if you are doing web application development. You can avoid using Ruby and you can avoid using PHP. But, you cannot avoid using JavaScript.

All web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc.) have JS interpreters built in. No other language has this kind of advantage and reach. It is unlikely this will change soon.

4. JavaScript Dominating for Foreseeable Future

We have said this many times, JavaScript is the language of the browser. Because the browser is such a core part of our daily tech lives, we will unlikely be moving away from browsers (and hence, JS) in the near future.

In addition, JS is supported by a broad and powerful group of companies — it is not controlled by a single person or company, which makes it a lot more stable and relevant.

5. It’s an Inexpensive Language

Because JavaScript does not require any particular compilers or editors, it is a much less expensive language and runs relatively fast and allows for client-side processing (saving on bandwidth and server load even more).

6. The JavaScript Community is Innovative, Active, and Competitive

In the past three years, the JavaScript landscape has completely matured and shifted towards becoming a truly full-stack language. There are constantly new, open-source frameworks and libraries being created all the time.

A large portion of the most popular open-source repositories on GitHub are written in JavaScript. And JS was not only the most popular language used on GitHub, but it also rose by 97% from the year before. Below is a graph of the most active repositories on GitHub and JavaScript developers are the leaders by far.

(Description: Graph representing Github active repositories - JavaScript being the most active)

7. There’s a Trend Towards Web Apps and Mobile Apps

Browsers are getting more powerful and bandwidth is getting cheaper and more reliable. The focus is moving away from native apps and towards web and mobile applications, especially as the possible combinations of operating systems, screen sizes, and devices are becoming more diverse.

8. JavaScript Now is NOT the JavaScript of Then

JavaScript has made incredible strides in the past decade. This misunderstood language suffered a lot in its infancy and developed a reputation as being tough to work with and nonsensical. However, the development of AJAX (along with a few other things) resulted in a renaissance period for JS and the language has matured drastically.

The advent of Node has increased JavaScript’s reach even more and unleashed it from the confines of the browser.

If you are interested in learning how to program, we highly encourage you to apply!

Resources

• JavaScript: The World’s Most Misunderstood Programming Language by Douglas Crockford
• Stack Overflow Insights
• The Principle of Least Power by Jeff Atwood
• If You Could Learn Just One Programming Language, It Should Be JavaScript by Aziz Ali

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