# Introduction to JavaScript
Updated on Dec 22, 2021 by [Alan Morel](/content/alanmorel/index.html)
## Table of Contents
1. [Prerequisites](/content/classes/javascript/introduction#prerequisites/index.html)
2. [Selecting a Text Editor](/content/classes/javascript/introduction#selecting-a-text-editor/index.html)
3. [Hello World](/content/classes/javascript/introduction#hello-world/index.html)
The modern web today is dynamic, vibrant, and offers many rich experiences. A lot of that is thanks to **[JavaScript](/content/classes/javascript/index.html)**.
JavaScript is an easy-to-learn scripting language that allows you to make your websites more interactive, including changing the content on your page, creating cookies, validating forms, adding custom effects, reacting to user actions, and much more.
JavaScript is used in almost every website you browse and helps bring your pages to life.
In this **JavaScript** class, we will dive into all of these to help you understand a major component that makes the web tick the way it does. We will cover the basics of JavaScript, how to use it, and how to make it work for you.
## Prerequisites
1. Intermediate knowledge of HTML, which you can obtain from this [class on HTML](/content/classes/html/index.html).
2. Basic knowledge of [CSS](/content/classes/css/index.html) since we'll be using it lightly.
3. A desire to learn how to code!
With that being said, let's get started!
## Selecting a Text Editor
Since JavaScript is ultimately just plain text, you can use any text editor for this class. However, we suggest using [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/). It will support the operating system you're running on, and its syntax highlighting makes writing JavaScript a blast!
Of course, feel free to use whatever text editor you might already be using.
Visual Studio Code
## Hello World
Create a brand new file in your editor, and type this in:
```html
Intro to JavaScript
```
Save this as `index.html` and then open it with your browser of choice. You should see something like this if successful:
Hello World in browser.
If you see the alert dialog at the top, you have everything you need to begin this class on JavaScript!
Let's roll.