Graduation Year

Fall 2013

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Mathematical Sciences

Reader 1

Arthur Lee

Reader 2

Everett Bull

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2013 Sean McQueen

Abstract

The most important programming languages are the ones that manage to capitalize on emerging frontiers in computing. Although JavaScript started its life as a toy language, the explosive growth of the web since 1995 and the invention of the web application have transformed the language’s syntax, potential and importance. JavaScript today is powerful and expressive. But is the language good enough to power the future of the web? How does the messy political past of JavaScript affect web development today, and how will it affect web development in the future?

The paper first examines the political history of JavaScript from its origins at Netscape through today. Then a case study of pure JavaScript web development using the NodeJS and AngularJS is presented and analyzed. Finally, several potential paths forward for the language are considered, including a discussion and analysis of Microsoft’s TypeScript, Mozilla’s ASM.js and Google’s Dart.

Download

This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.

Share

COinS