Is there any non-web application of JavaScript?

Question

As far as I know, JavaScript is a general purpose language but mostly it is used for Web Applications.

I am curious to know whether anyone is using JavaScript for non-Web apps. Also, are there any tools available for non-Web application development?

Answer 1

Yes, you have Javascript for example in Adobe Acrobat to customize PDF Files.

They are used in server-side projects too like Jaxer, a Javascript Server.

Answer 2

Sure! Since the newer javascript engines (like V8, Rhino and SpiderMonkey) have been around there's been work on 'Server-Side JS' (which can also be used just as regular shell apps, of course).

My 2 favorites are Narwhal and NodeJS.

As far as 'tools' I'd go with the old stand-by's vim and bash :)

Answer 3

Well, someone did write a Javascript OS (although it runs in the browser... but still, not your ordinary webapp).

Answer 4

javascript can be used as a general purpose language, for instance you can write apps in JScript.NET on the .NET platform (though JScript isn't completely compatible with the javascript spec).

You can find some more uses outside of web applications here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaScript#Uses%5Foutside%5Fweb%5Fpages

Answer 5

JavaScript has been in use for a while outside of web applications. You can even obtain a parser for javascript and add it to your application if you want. Then you an add custom functions to the javascript engine and allow your users to use a scripting language from within your application.

Answer 6

Rhino is a JavaScript implementation written in Java that is not coupled to a browser: http://www.mozilla.org/rhino/

You could use it to build something server side.

Answer 7

MongoDB (from "humongous") is a scalable, high-performance, open source, schema-free, document-oriented database. You interact with it via JavaScript. Documents are JSON blobs.

Answer 8

There's a reasonable list here: for example, it points out that Javascript can be (and is;-) used for the purpose of scripting such non-web apps as Photoshop and OpenOffice.org. On the same wikipedia page you'll find pointers to several stand-alone Javascript interpreters (i.e., ones that are not part of web browsers) and specs for making e.g. your Java non-web apps more easily scriptable by Javascript (via a Rhino-derived stand-alone interpreter).

Answer 9

htlmwithjavascript.hta (HTML Applications) files can be run on Windows to do scripting with the convienence of HTML formatiing. The Windows scripting engine also supports jscript.

Answer 10

Dashboard Widgets in Mac OS X?

Answer 11

javasxript ? no. its named ecmascript 262. they exist in many different apps

Answer 12

Is there any way to create normal desktop applications using JavaScript? I've wondered this a long time.

Answer 13

You can create local desktop and mobile applications using JavaScript with a number of Web Runtime platforms. They include:

• Appcelerator Titanium (Desktop & Mobile)
• Adobe AIR (Desktop)
• Palm webOS (Mobile)
• PhoneGap (Mobile)