This ECMA Standard is based on several originating technologies, the most well-known being JavaScript (Netscape Communications) and Jscript (Microsoft Corporation). The language was invented by Brendan Eich at Netscape and first appeared in that company’s Navigator 2.0 browser. It has appeared in all subsequent browsers from Netscape and in all browsers from Microsoft starting with Internet Explorer 3.0. The development of this Standard started in November 1996. The first edition of this ECMA Standard was adopted by the ECMA Gen eral Assembly of June 1997. That ECMA Standard was submitted to ISO/IEC JTC 1 for adoption under the fast-track procedure, and approved as international standard ISO/IEC 16262, in April 1998. The ECMA General Assembly of June 1998 has approved the second edition of ECMA-262 to keep it fully aligned with ISO/IEC 16262. Changes from the first edition are editorial in nature. The work on standardization of the language continues to support regular expressions, richer control statements and better string handling, in addition to the core language standardized in the first two editions of the ECMA Standard. These features and others, such as try/catch exception handling and better internationalization facilities, are being documented in anticipation of the third edition of the standard about the end of 1999 which will contain the second version of the language. eral Assembly of June 1997. That ECMA Standard was submitted to ISO/IEC JTC 1 for adoption under the fast-track procedure, and approved as international standard ISO/IEC 16262, in April 1998. The ECMA General Assembly of June 1998 has approved the second edition of ECMA-262 to keep it fully aligned with ISO/IEC 16262. Changes from the first edition are editorial in nature. The work on standardization of the language continues to support regular expressions, richer control statements and better string handling, in addition to the core language standardized in the first two editions of the ECMA Standard. These features and others, such as try/catch exception handling and better internationalization facilities, are being documented in anticipation of the third edition of the standard about the end of 1999 which will contain the second version of the language.