How to Open JavaScript Files

JavaScript files have .js extension and you can open them using any text editor. Your options start with Notepad and advance into modern IDEs like Visual Studio Code or WebStorm. If you love the terminal environment, you can even use tools like vi, emacs, ed or nano.

So, JavaScript files are always plain text. The benefit that you get from the IDE (Interative Development Environment) is syntax hightlight and error detection that will help you write your code faster.

If you want to open a JS file to run it, it’s totally different, though. You should first know which runtime it belongs to. For example, it could be a browser script or a server-side Node.js program and the approaches to running it will be different.

Read more JavaScript tutorials or Learn Full-Stack JS from scratch!