Question 1

How long did it take to design JavaScript?

Accepted Answer

Brendan Eich wrote the first JavaScript prototype in 10 days in May 1995 while at Netscape, originally under the name Mocha, then LiveScript, before settling on JavaScript. It was standardized as ECMA-262 (commonly called ECMAScript) in 1997, and the language has evolved through annual spec revisions since ES2015.

Question 2

Can this tool unminify bundled JavaScript?

Accepted Answer

Yes — paste any minified bundle and the formatter will restore newlines, indentation, and spacing so the code is readable. It cannot recover original variable names or source-level comments (those are lost during minification), but structure, scope, and control flow come back. For full source reconstruction you need a source map, not just beautification.

Question 3

Does the formatter understand TypeScript or JSX?

Accepted Answer

js-beautify is a JavaScript beautifier, so TypeScript type annotations and JSX markup are handled as best-effort. Most code reformats correctly, but uncommon generic-type syntax, decorators, or complex JSX expressions may produce surprising output. For heavy TypeScript or JSX work, Prettier is a better fit.

Question 4

What does the brace style setting change?

Accepted Answer

Same line (collapse) puts the opening brace at the end of the declaration, like `function f() {`. New line (expand) puts it on its own line, like `function f()
{`. End expand is a hybrid that places the closing brace alone but keeps the opening inline. All three are valid JavaScript — pick whichever matches your team's style guide.

JavaScript Formatter

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