JavaScript 2.0, a masterpiece on the horizon

The ECMAScript 4 proposal is already getting a strong response as it goes through standardization. The
 Mozilla project site already has a document called 

 ECMAScript 4 Netscape Proposal
, which covers all the changes prepared so far. 
 Work on the ECMAScript 4 specification is leading to implementations in browsers. In the world
 overseen by the Mozilla project, meaning the browsers based on Gecko, the response has been
 to start work on JavaScript 2.0, which will build on and extend ECMAScript 4.

Here are the main aims of ECMAScript 4 and, by extension, JavaScript 2.0.

• Move the language toward modular, object-oriented applications
• Enable the development of robust, secure applications
• Allow integration with other languages and environments
• Enable the development of applications with an emphasis on performance
• Simplify the language wherever possible
• Keep the implementation complete and adaptable

An interesting idea runs through all of these goals. 
 The planned ECMAScript 4 specification and the implementations based on it, 
 JavaScript 2.0 and JScript, point toward a major shift to building web applications
 and web services. The days when client-side scripting was mainly about improving
 user interaction are gone. This version clearly marks a shift to a platform 
 for applications that run on top of browsers, or user agents. Integrating with browsers
 will give this framework, or runtime environment, wide reach. The same goes for applications 
 that use its services alongside individual proprietary technologies.

There’s also considerable value in integrating with existing environments
 such as Java or .NET. ECMAScript 4 could become a scripting language 
 for those platforms, though that depends more on designing a suitable way
 for them to communicate.

Above all, ECMAScript 4 and its implementations won’t be a cure-all
 for every kind of task. You could say the same, broadly speaking,
about any language or platform.