Crockford on JavaScript - Volume 1: The Early Years

Caption notes

Douglas Crockford uses this installment to trace computer and language design before JavaScript. He contrasts punched-card batch work with interactive time-sharing to show how systems can prioritize saving machine time or reducing the time people spend waiting. Through examples including Smalltalk, Self, Scheme and HyperCard, he traces designs into the browser and describes early JavaScript as a combination of Java-like syntax, Scheme’s function model and Self’s prototype objects. This is a historical retrospective shaped by his experience and judgment. The guide follows his comparisons. Specific technical lineages, dates and on-screen examples await independent verification.