Why is JavaScript sometimes viewed as a low level language?
definition, javascript, low-level
Solution
It is a high-level language, given its flexibility (functions as objects, etc.)
But anything that is commonly compiled-to can be considered a low-level language simply because it's a target for compilation, and there are many languages that can now be compiled to JS because of its unique role as the browser's DOM-controlling language.
Among the languages (or subsets of them) that can be compiled to JS:
- Java
- C#
- Haxe
- Objective-J
- Ruby
- Python
Problem
Inspired by this question. I commonly see people referring to JavaScript as a low level language, especially among users of GWT and similar toolkits. My question is: why? If you use one of those toolkits, you're cutting yourself from some of the features that make JavaScript so nice to program in: functions as objects, dynamic typing, etc. Especially when combined with one of the popular frameworks such as jQuery or Prototype. It's like calling C++ low level because the standard library is smaller than the Java API. I'm not a C++ programmer, but I highly doubt every C++ programmer writes their own GUI and networking libraries.