JavaScript. This is way back in 1998, when there was still VBScript and JavaScript was still very nascent. I had no idea it would have the impact it has had on

JavaScript. This is way back in 1998, when there was still VBScript and JavaScript was still very nascent. I had no idea it would have the impact it has had on the Web today. I just found it a cool way to make rollovers and other effects. When CSS and "DHTML" came around, its potential was starting to dawn on me. Others saw it first, but that was when I started to approach it in earnest. I created and played with so many cross-browser JavaScript libraries in that day. (Anyone remember 5k?) This is way before jQuery. Even made a bunch of widget libraries. Looking back, it was such a Wild West. Arguably, it still is. Somewhere around 2003-2005, a bunch of colleagues and I started to apply formal computer science discipline and principals to JavaScript. Many others were trying similar things too. I even remember using an iframe to dynamically load and change content on the page without a refresh, a precursor to "AJAX" when it was coined in 2005. Somewhere around this time, I remember colleagues talking about using JavaScript on the server too, instead of just the client. It's pretty crazy to see how far this little scripting language running on a Netscape browser has come.