The change of name from LiveScript to JavaScript happened at roughly the time that Netscape was including support for Java technology in its [[Netscape Navigator]] [[web browser]]. JavaScript was first introduced and deployed in the Netscape browser version 2.0B3 in December of 1995. The choice of name proved to be a source of much confusion. There is no real relation between Java and JavaScript; their similarities are mostly in syntax (that is, both derived from [[C programming language|C]]);. theirTheir semantics are quite different,: notably, their object models are unrelated and largely incompatible. Also worth mentioning is Microsoft's own [[VBScript]], which is mainly used in web pages like JavaScript. VBScript's syntax derives from [[Visual Basic]], and is only available on Internet Explorer, unlike JavaScript, which is available in most browsers. When faced with the problem of choosing between the two languages, programmers will most often opt for JavaScript.
Due to the de facto success of JavaScript as a web page enhancement language, [[Microsoft]] developed a compatible language known as [[JScript]]. JScript was first supported in the [[Internet Explorer]] browser version 3.0 released in August, 1996. When web developers talk about using JavaScript in the IE browser, they silentlyusually mean JScript in the IE browser. The need for common specifications for that language was the basis of the ECMA 262 standard for ECMAScript (see [[#External links|external links]] below), three editions of which have been published since the work started in November [[1996]] (and which in turn set the stage for the standardization of [[C Sharp programming language|C#]] a few years later). One term often related to JavaScript, the [[Document Object Model]] (DOM), is actually not part of the ECMAScript standard; it's rather a standard on its own, and based on [[XML]].
