Course Overview

Overview of history of the JavaScript language

History of JavaScript

Overview of the relationship between JavaScript and Java

JavaScript vs Java

Overview of how JavaScript is evolved as a programming language

How is it evolved?

Overview of how we can track upcoming features in the JavaScript language

How to track upcoming features?

Overview of how the ECMAScript is versioned

How is ECMAScript versioned?

Explanation of whether JavaScript is interpreted or a compiled language

Is it interpreted or compiled?

Explanation of how JavaScript is executed

How is it executed?

Execution Context

Explanation of what is a callstack and how it is used in JavaScript

Callstack

Overview of memory management in JavaScript

Memory

What is JavaScript

What is hoisting?

Explanation of common misconception about hoisting in JavaScript

Misconception about hoisting

Hoisting

What is scope?

Explanation of global scope in JavaScript

Global scope

Explanation of function scope in JavaScript

Function scope

Block scope

Explanation of module scope in JavaScript

Module scope

Scope chain

Scope

What is coercion?

Diving into inner details of  coercion in JavaScript

Deeper look at coercion

Explanation of what abstract operations are and common types of abstract operations in JavaScript

Abstract operations

Explanation of how abstract or loose equality works in JavaScript

Abstract equality operator

Explanation of how the addition operator works in JavaScript

Addition operator

Explanation of how relational operators work in JavaScript

Relational operators

Coercion exercise for testing and practicing the knowledge learned in this module

Coercion exercise

Coercion

What is a closure?

Explanation of a common misconception about closures in JavaScript

Misconception about closures

Explanation of the problem of closures inside loops and how to fix it

Closures inside loops

Explanation of closures can be used to hide data

Data hiding using closures

Closures

What is prototypal inheritance?

Prototype chain

__proto__ property

Explanation of how we can create objects with custom prototypes in JavaScript

Custom prototypes

Explanation of how prototype chain is set with ES6 classes

ES6 classes and prototypes

Prototypes

Explanation of this keyword in JavaScript

What is this?

Explanation of how "this" works inside arrow functions

Arrow functions and "this"

Explanation of how value of "this" can be set explicitly

Explicitly binding "this"

globalThis

Summarizing "this"

'this' keyword

What is a symbol?

Explanation of why symbols were added in JavaScript

Why symbols?

Symbols and privacy

Explanation of global symbols in JavaScript

Global symbols

Explanation of what well-known symbols are in JavaScript

Well-known symbols

Symbol

Overview of asynchronous behavior of JavaScript

Overview

Overview of how callbacks help us write asynchronous code in JavaScript

Callbacks

Event loop

Promise

Explanation of promise chaining in JavaScript

Promise chaining

Explanation of some static methods of promises and their use cases

Use cases for static Promise methods

Explanation of async-await syntax in JavaScript

async await

Explanation of microtasks, how they are processed, and how they are linked to promises

Microtasks

Explanation of common anti-patterns to avoid when using promises in JavaScript

Promise anti-patterns

Asynchronous JavaScript

Explanation of what is an iterator in JavaScript

Iterators

Explanation of what is a generator in JavaScript

Generators

Explanation of how we can create asynchronous iterators in JavaScript

Asynchronous iterators

Explanation of how we can create asynchronous generators in JavaScript

Asynchronous generators

Iterators and Generators

Overview of what is debugging and different ways to debug JavaScript

Debugging

Overview of using the "debugger" statement to debug JavaScript

Debugger statement

Overview of using the breakpoints in browser developers' tools to debug JavaScript

Breakpoints in browser

Overview of using the VS Code debugger to debug JavaScript

VS Code debugger

Debugging JavaScript

Final thoughts and advice regarding how to continue the exciting journey of learning JavaScript

Conclusion

Wrap up

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Become a confident JavaScript pro by unraveling the most challenging aspects of the language. With easy-to-understand explanations and code examples, you’ll gain a deeper and solid understanding of JavaScript's most complex features.

Advanced JavaScript Unleashed is for beginner and intermediate developers alike, who want to elevate their JavaScript skills and become senior engineers by gaining a deeper understanding of the core topics of the language.

Advanced JavaScript Unleashed

JavaScript is thought of as an "interpreted" language by many because of the nature of how it is executed, but calling JavaScript just an "interpreted" language is not entirely true.

In the case of compiled languages, compilers usually compile the source code and produce a binary executable file, which can then be distributed and executed.

On the other hand, in the case of interpreted languages, interpreters do not produce an executable output file; unlike compilers, which compile the source code ahead of time, interpreters read and execute code on the fly.

In the case of JavaScript, the JavaScript engines do not output an executable file, which is one of the reasons it is thought of as an interpreted language.

, which is then executed by the virtual machine. The virtual machine 

 byte code, but modern JavaScript engines don't just interpret the byte code; they include what's known as the "

" to compile the byte code into native machine code, which is executed at a faster speed than the byte code.

Just-in-time (JIT) compilation is a technique used by many modern JavaScript engines to increase the execution speed of the JavaScript code.

JavaScript code is converted into byte code, and the JavaScript engine then executes this byte code. However, modern JavaScript engines perform many optimizations to increase the performance of JavaScript code. These optimizations are performed based on the information collected by the engine while it is executing the code.

One way to optimize performance is to compile byte code into machine code, which executes faster than the byte code. The JavaScript engine identifies the "hot" parts of the code to do this - parts that are being executed frequently.

These "hot" parts of the code are then compiled into native machine code, and this machine code is then executed instead of the corresponding byte code.

So how is the JIT compiler different from a traditional compiler used by languages like C++? Unlike traditional compilers, which compile the code ahead of time, the JIT compiler compiles the code at runtime while the code is being executed.

While Javascript code is still distributed in source code format rather than executable format, it is compiled into byte code and possibly native machine code.

So, coming back to the question: is JavaScript a compiled or interpreted language? It is safe to say that it is both - 

compiled as well as an interpreted language

---
title: Is it interpreted or compiled?
description: Explanation of whether JavaScript is interpreted or a compiled language
isPublicLesson: false
---

JavaScript is thought of as an "interpreted" language by many because of the nature of how it is executed, but calling JavaScript just an "interpreted" language is not entirely true.

In the case of compiled languages, compilers usually compile the source code and produce a binary executable file, which can then be distributed and executed.

On the other hand, in the case of interpreted languages, interpreters do not produce an executable output file; unlike compilers, which compile the source code ahead of time, interpreters read and execute code on the fly.

In the case of JavaScript, the JavaScript engines do not output an executable file, which is one of the reasons it is thought of as an interpreted language.

However, the JavaScript code is _compiled_ into an intermediary form known as **byte code**, which is then executed by the virtual machine. The virtual machine **interprets** byte code, but modern JavaScript engines don't just interpret the byte code; they include what's known as the "**Just-in-time (JIT) compiler**" to compile the byte code into native machine code, which is executed at a faster speed than the byte code.

## JIT Compiler

Just-in-time (JIT) compilation is a technique used by many modern JavaScript engines to increase the execution speed of the JavaScript code.

JavaScript code is converted into byte code, and the JavaScript engine then executes this byte code. However, modern JavaScript engines perform many optimizations to increase the performance of JavaScript code. These optimizations are performed based on the information collected by the engine while it is executing the code.

One way to optimize performance is to compile byte code into machine code, which executes faster than the byte code. The JavaScript engine identifies the "hot" parts of the code to do this - parts that are being executed frequently.

These "hot" parts of the code are then compiled into native machine code, and this machine code is then executed instead of the corresponding byte code.

So how is the JIT compiler different from a traditional compiler used by languages like C++? Unlike traditional compilers, which compile the code ahead of time, the JIT compiler compiles the code at runtime while the code is being executed.

While Javascript code is still distributed in source code format rather than executable format, it is compiled into byte code and possibly native machine code.

So, coming back to the question: is JavaScript a compiled or interpreted language? It is safe to say that it is both - **compiled as well as an interpreted language**.
