Difference Between JavaScript and HTML (With Table)

JavaScript and HTML both are high-level programming languages used to create the web pages on the World Wide Web.

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HTML is considered to be an old language used for creating web pages by displaying plain text. JavaScript, on the other hand, is an advanced high-level programming language based on Object Oriented Programming used to add more functionality to the content.

HTML consists of codes and a variety of tags used to decide what content is to be displayed on the web pages whereas JavaScript has various functions and scripts to add more advanced functionality to the web pages.

JavaScript vs HTML

The main difference between JavaScript and HTML is that HTML creates a basic structure of web pages by displaying the content in plain text whereas JavaScript makes the basic HTML web page look more dynamic and interactive.

Comparison Table Between JavaScript and HTML

Parameters of Comparison

JavaScript

HTML

Definition

An advanced programming language that makes web pages more interactive and attractive. It is a scripting language.

The most basic language to create web pages on the web. It is a markup language.

Usage

Gives static web pages the dynamic functionality.

Provides static content on web pages that cannot be changed.

Platform

Static content can be displayed by any web browser.

Code runs only on the JS engine.

Community

Under ECMA TC-39 Committee.

Under W3C and WHATWG.

Compatibility

Doesn’t have cross-browser compatibility. Supported by browsers based on the functionalities.

Has the cross-browser compatibility. Supported by all the browsers.

Integration

Can be embedded inside HTML.

Cannot be embedded inside JavaScript.

Standardization

Has been standardized by ECMA.

Has been standardized by W3C and WHATWG.

Generality

Used in many client and server side environment.

Used in majority of sites of the World Wide Web.

What is JavaScript

JavaScript is an advanced programming language used to create websites that look interactive and dynamic. It adds more functionality to the static code of HTML. JavaScript is also called as the browser’s language.

This high-level scripting language can easily insert dynamic text in web pages written in HTML. Introduced by Netscape, it runs on the client-side of the browser.

JavaScript is maintained by the ECMA (European Computer Manufacturers Association) group and also has confirmation of the ECMAScript specification.

JavaScript requires the JavaScript engine to interpret and run the JavaScript code. It is a multi-paradigm programming language based on the Object Oriented Programming.

What is HTML

HTML or HyperText Markup Language is the most basic language used in creating web pages. It is the most basic building block of web. It is used to define the meaning and structure of the web content.

HTML was developed by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) and the WHATWG (Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group).

It gives a format to the plain text to provide it a proper structure. The HTML files are stored in the memory with .html or .htm extension.

It uses various tags to display the content on web pages. These tags are predefined in the HTML and cannot be modified. Examples of these tags are: <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, <h4>, <h5>, <h6>, <br>, <p>, etc.

HTML along with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), which is a Style Sheet Language maintained by W3C, modifies and makes the website look better. CSS includes content in HTML that help in making the web page look rich and better.

Main Differences Between HTML and JavaScript

  1. HTML helps in displaying the content whereas JavaScript helps in adding various functionalities in displaying the data.
  2. HTML uses a variety of elements and tags to display the data on the web pages whereas JavaScript is a scripting language that helps in making the static HTML code look more dynamic.
  3. HTML consists of various tags like the Header tags, paragraph tags, line break tags, horizontal lines, etc whereas JavaScript has its inbuilt functions used to define and manipulate the data in the form of objects.
  4. HTML has a cross-browser compatibility and can work on all browsers whereas JavaScript isn’t cross-browser compatible and is unable to show some functionalities when the browser or its version changes.
  5. HTML with CSS provides formatting to the data and displays in a structured format whereas JavaScript integrates the HTML code and provides dynamic functionality to it.
  6. HTML has attributes used to define characteristics of HTML elements whereas JavaScript has Object notation and structure with different types like Number, Boolean, String, Date, Time, etc.
  7. HTML’s static content will be displayed from the server side whereas JavaScript’s scripts are executed from the client-side on the web browser.
  8. HTML supports various data types like title, header, footer, content, images, audio and video tags displayed on web page whereas JavaScript controls the display of these data types on web page on the basis of the functionalities.
  9. HTML has elements that are defined using a starting tag (<i>) with a closing tag, element name preceded by forward slash (</i>), whereas in JavaScript functions and events provide the dynamic functionality when executed.
  10. Latest version HTML 5.0 and above support video streaming and has multimedia features whereas the latest JavaScript standard ES 8 (ECMAScript) supports high-level functional programming, higher-order functions, many asynchronous functions and memory optimizations.
  11. HTML’s DOM (Document Object Model) is an object that can be modified using APIs whereas the JavaScript language’s specification is used for manipulating many complex client side functional requirements with the help of functional programming benefits.

Conclusion

HTML language is used for static web content whereas JavaScript language is used for a dynamic environment for the webpages. HTML displays the content whereas JavaScript creates an interactive environment for the users to interact with the web content.

HTML uses various tags to display the content on the web page whereas JavaScript is based on the concept of Object Oriented Programming that makes the content as well as the website more interactive and dynamic.

The HTML has no supporting libraries to enhance the display of content on the web pages whereas JavaScript has libraries like AngularJS, ReactJS, etc to add more functionality to the content on web pages.

References

  1. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/1028174.971344
  2. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=A-tltyafYmEC&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=JavaScript+and+HTML&ots=J6DK8PXDBQ&sig=gpdqbkLmZtfHIYJjOrHjbi7mNb8

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