The Rise of HTML5 and JavaScript

HTML5 and JavaScript are on the rise, and they’re becoming the defacto standards for ‘everything Internet’ much faster than previously expected.  JavaScript has often been described as “assembly language for the Web“, since it’s “as low-level as a web programming language” can get.  Together, they’re so powerful that they’re already having an enormous impact on the long-term strategies of tens of thousands of companies, including some of the world’s biggest technology corporations – Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft.

Why, you ask?  Well, after years of browser domination by Adobe’s Flash / Flex technologies, a perfect storm of circumstances have come about simultaneously.  They include:

• JavaScript, which is the programming language used by HTML5, has become the undisputed “language of the Internet”.
• JavaScript has grown into an immensely powerful language, which is widely supported across almost every platform (both client-side and server-side), and can be used for nearly any purpose.
• HTML5 is the safest choice for new web applications because it is widely supported in the most recent version of each of the major desktop and mobile browsers – even Microsoft Internet Explorer 9.
• New rapid release cycles for all of the major browsers have accelerated adoption of HTML5 and improvements in JavaScript.
• JavaScript libraries – especially JQuery – have taken much of the pain out of JavaScript coding, and are making powerful JavaScript development accessible to most developers.
• HTML5 doesn’t have the restrictions that Apple’s App Store does.
• Use of HTML5 doesn’t require giving up a 30% slice of your app’s revenues (like the Apple App Store does).
• Apple’s iPhone / iPad don’t support Adobe Flash.
• There can be performance issues with Adobe Flash in mobile browsers that do support it.
• Unlike Adobe Flash, HTML5 allows you to write once and run everywhere – without proprietary browser plug-ins.
• HTML5 will be used to built apps in Microsoft Windows 8 and the next version of Microsoft Office.

HTML5 and JavaScript now own the browser.  There are no other viable alternatives.  The market viability of Adobe Flash / Flex is rapidly fading.  The real battle for the client-side is between HTML5/JavaScript apps and platform-specific native apps like Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.  The rest is history.