First Javascript Code
Published by: Anil K. Panta
Your First JavaScript Code
Let us take a sample example to print out "Hello World". We added an optional HTML comment that surrounds our JavaScript code. This is to save our code from a browser that does not support JavaScript. The comment ends with a "//-->". Here "//" signifies a comment in JavaScript, so we add that to prevent a browser from reading the end of the HTML comment as a piece of JavaScript code. Next, we call a functiondocument.write which writes a string into our HTML document.
This function can be used to write text, HTML, or both. Take a look at the following code.
Output:
Hello World!
Whitespace and Line Breaks
JavaScript ignores spaces, tabs, and newlines that appear in JavaScript programs. You can use spaces, tabs, and newlines freely in your program and you are free to format and indent your programs in a neat and consistent way that makes the code easy to read and understand.
Semicolons are Optional
Simple statements in JavaScript are generally followed by a semicolon character, just as they are in C, C++, and Java. JavaScript, however, allows you to omit this semicolon if each of your statements are placed on a separate line. For example, the following code could be written without semicolons.
But when formatted in a single line as follows, you must use semicolons
Note − It is a good programming practice to use semicolons.
Comments in JavaScript
JavaScript supports any of the following comment methods:
Any text between a // and the end of a line is treated as a comment and is ignored by JavaScript.
Any text between the characters /* and */ is treated as a comment. This may span multiple lines.
JavaScript also recognizes the HTML comment opening sequence <!--. JavaScript treats this as a single-line comment, just as it does the // comment.
The HTML comment closing sequence --> is not recognized by JavaScript so it should be written as //-->.
Warning for Non-JavaScript Browsers
If you have to do something important using JavaScript, then you can display a warning message to the user using <noscript> tags.
You can add a noscript block immediately after the script block as follows:
Now, if the user's browser does not support JavaScript or JavaScript is not enabled, then the message from </noscript> will be displayed on the screen.
