2001— JSON , a JavaScript-based data exchange format

2004— Dojo Toolkit , a framework for programming JavaScript in the large

Ajax is a collection of technologies that brings a level of interactivity to web pages that rivals that of desktop applications. One impressive example of what can be achieved via Ajax was introduced in February 2005: Google Maps. This application allowed you to pan and zoom over a map of the world, but only the content that was currently visible was downloaded to the browser. After Google Maps came out, Jesse James Garrett noticed that it shared certain traits with other interactive websites. He called these traits Ajax, a shorthand for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML.[ ] The two cornerstones of Ajax are loading content asynchronously in the background (via XMLHttpRequest ) and dynamically updating the current page with the results (via dynamic HTML). That was a considerable usability improvement from always performing complete page reloads. Ajax marked the mainstream breakthrough of JavaScript and dynamic web applications. It is interesting to note how long that took—at that point, the Ajax ingredients had been available for years. Since the inception of Ajax, other data formats have become popular (JSON instead of XML), other protocols are used (e.g., Web Sockets in addition to HTTP), and bidirectional communication is possible. But the basic techniques are still the same. However, the term Ajax is used much less these days and has mostly been replaced by the more comprehensive terms HTML5 and Web Platform (which both mean JavaScript plus browser APIs).

2006— jQuery , helping with DOM manipulation

2007— WebKit , taking the mobile web mainstream

2008— V8 , proving JavaScript can be fast

When Google introduced its Chrome web browser, one of its highlights was a fast JavaScript engine called V8. It changed the perception of JavaScript as being slow and led to a speed race with other browser vendors from which we are still profiting. V8 is open source and can be used as a standalone component whenever you need a fast embedded language that is widely known.

2009— Node.js , implementing JavaScript on the server

2009— PhoneGap , writing native apps in HTML5

2009— Chrome OS , making the browser the operating system