JavaScript is the standard programming language for web pages on the internet. JavaScript errors are bugs in the programming code for a page.
Back at the dawn of the internet, web pages were limited to using the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). HTML is a standard used by all browsers to display web pages. HTML handles things like font styles, links, and pictures, which was enough at first, but people wanted to do more with web pages.
Netscape used a simple programming language developed for JavaScript so that even non-programmers could enhance their websites with functionality that is more sophisticated. The language itself has become more sophisticated and is now a standard which, like HTML, is supported by all web browsers.
JavaScript was not designed to run extremely complex programs; it was designed for simple enhancements to web pages. As the internet has evolved, the programming behind web pages has become more complex, often straining the limits of JavaScript. To alleviate the problem some of the programming has been offloaded to servers rather than trying to download it all onto your computer.
JavaScript, which runs locally, is currently used heavily by websites to drive their user interfaces. Although many modern websites communicate with servers to get their data, that communication can be slow or even fail altogether. It is important for the user interface to be responsive even if there is a problem with the server, so the interface is usually written in JavaScript and run locally from your computer, while the more complex code runs on a server.
As with any programming language, JavaScript will have bugs in it, and sometimes they will cause the program to fail. Fortunately, unlike a desktop program, when a JavaScript program fails, the rest of the page usually still works fine.
Getting Rid of the JavaScript Warning Dialog on Internet Explorer
Most JavaScript errors you get are due to a failure in a single webpage. Usually these errors are harmless: Although you may lose some functionality, they are not a danger to your computer.
However, Internet Explorer pops up a warning dialog by default. This warning stops you from doing anything on the page and can be annoying. If you are a programmer it may be interesting to look at the code, but for the rest of us it is not very useful.
To get rid of the dialog, follow these steps:
1.In Internet Explorer, select Internet Options from the Tools menu.
2.Click on the Advanced tab.
3.Depending on your version there may be up to three checkboxes you need to set (two of them checked, one unchecked):
oCheck: Disable script debugging (Internet Explorer)
oCheck: Disable script debugging (Other)
oUncheck: Display a notification about every script error
4.Click the OK button.
This should stop the warning dialog from showing. If you start having problems with many web pages, there may be a problem with your browser, not with the web page, and you may need to reinstall Internet Explorer.