What EXACTLY is JavaScript?

Conditionals

The if/else statement executes a block of code if a specified condition is true. If the condition is false, another block of code can be executed. The if/else statement is a part of JavaScript's "Conditional" Statements, which are used to perform different actions based on different conditions.

In JavaScript we have the following conditional statements: Use if to specify a block of code to be executed, if a specified condition is true Use else to specify a block of code to be executed, if the same condition is false Use else if to specify a new condition to test, if the first condition is false Use switch to select one of many blocks of code to be executed

Functions

Generally speaking, a function is a "subprogram" that can be called by code external (or internal in the case of recursion) to the function. Like the program itself, a function is composed of a sequence of statements called the function body. Values can be passed to a function, and the function will return a value.

In JavaScript, functions are first-class objects, because they can have properties and methods just like any other object. What distinguishes them from other objects is that functions can be called. In brief, they are Function objects.

Loops

You can think of a loop as a computerized version of the game where you tell someone to take X steps in one direction then Y steps in another.

There are many different kinds of loops, but they all essentially do the same thing: they repeat an action some number of times (and it's actually possible that number could be zero). The various loop mechanisms offer different ways to determine the start and end points of the loop. There are various situations that are more easily served by one type of loop over the others.

Arrays

Arrays are generally described as "list-like objects"; they are basically single objects that contain multiple values stored in a list. Array objects can be stored in variables and dealt with in much the same way as any other type of value, the difference being that we can access each value inside the list individually, and do super useful and efficient things with the list, like loop through it and do the same thing to every value. Maybe we've got a series of product items and their prices stored in an array, and we want to loop through them all and print them out on an invoice, while totaling all the prices together and printing out the total price at the bottom.

Objects

Objects in JavaScript, just as in many other programming languages, can be compared to objects in real life. The concept of objects in JavaScript can be understood with real life, tangible objects. In JavaScript, an object is a standalone entity, with properties and type. Compare it with a cup, for example. A cup is an object, with properties. A cup has a color, a design, weight, a material it is made of, etc. The same way, JavaScript objects can have properties, which define their characteristics. JavaScript is designed on a simple object-based paradigm. An object is a collection of properties, and a property is an association between a name (or key) and a value. A property's value can be a function, in which case the property is known as a method. In addition to objects that are predefined in the browser, you can define your own objects.