Is JavaScript front end or backend?

Answer 1

JavaScript, like many other programming languages, requires a processing engine for it to do anything. That engine can be installed and running anywhere, which would mean that JavaScript could, in theory, run in any environment, like on your desktop, in robots, on chips, etc.

That said, every web browser has a JavaScript engine running in the background. So far, no other language has taken the place of JavaScript in browsers, that is to say, "front end."

Node is a browserless JavaScript environment which can be run right on your desktop! It can also run on your server, that is to say, "back end." The extent of the usefulness of Node has not yet been fully realized.

Ian

Answer 2

Javascript has mainly been front-end (browser based) until the introduction of Nodejs.

Before Nodejs, Javascript was primarily used for adding functionality to browser based applications/websites. Now you can consider Javascript to be full-stack which includes both front-end and back-end. Nodejs does everything a back-end application does like responding to client requests, connecting to databases and making api calls using Javascript.

This makes Javascript a great language to learn and use because you are using one language for the front-end and back-end.

Answer 3

Short answer is, it's both. JavaScript depends on a host environment, the most common of which is the browser. In that case, it's front-end.

JavaScript can also run on the back-end, as there are several server-side host environments. Node.js is one example of JavaScript on the server.