JScript is the Microsoft implementation of the ECMA 262 language specification (ECMAScript Edition 3). With only a few minor exceptions (to maintain backwards compatibility), JScript is a full implementation of the ECMA standard. This overview is intended to help you get started with JScript.
JScript is an interpreted, object-based scripting language. Although it has fewer capabilities than full-fledged object-oriented languages like C++, JScript is more than sufficiently powerful for its intended purposes.
JScript is not a cut-down version of another language (it is only distantly and indirectly related to Java, for example), nor is it a simplification of anything. It is, however, limited. You cannot write stand-alone applications in it, for example, and it has no built-in support for reading or writing files. Moreover, JScript scripts can run only in the presence of an interpreter or "host", such as Active Server Pages (ASP), Internet Explorer, or Windows Script Host.
JScript is a loosely typed language. Loosely typed means you do not have to declare the data types of variables explicitly. In fact, JScript takes it one step further. You cannot explicitly declare data types in JScript. Moreover, in many cases JScript performs conversions automatically when needed. For instance, if you add a number to an item consisting of text (a string), the number is converted to text.
The rest of this user's guide is an overview of JScript features. For full details of the language implementation, consult the language reference.
Note The code in many of the following examples is somewhat more explicit and less dense than code you are likely to find in actual Web pages. The intent here is to clarify the concepts, not to express optimal coding conciseness and style. In any case, there is no shame in writing code that you can read and easily understand six months after you write it.