Some notes on the JavaScript naming history
- Started out as LiveScript developed by Netscape
- Renamed to JavaScript to capitalize on the popularity and success of Java. Has nothing in common with Java
- Submitted to be standardized in 1996 by ECMA (European Computer Manufacturers association). Has been officially known as ECMAScript ever since, but still commonly referred to as JavaScript in practice.
- ECMAScript 3 published in 1999. No changes made to the ECMAScript standard for 10 years after that.
- ECMAScript 5 released in 2009
- In 2015 the committee responsible for drafting ECMAScript specs decided to move to a yearly model for defining new standards. That’s why the 6th edition of ECMAScript, ES6, is also known as ECMAScript 2015 or ES2015
- ES7, thus, will also be known as ECMAScript 2016 or ES2016
- The name ECMAScript is generally used to refer to the standards, while the term JavaScript is more commonly used to refer to the implementations of those standards documents, not tied to any version of the standard..