JavaScript has evolved tremendously since its creation in 1995. It started as a scripting language for web browsers but is now the most popular programming language. Key developments include AJAX which allowed asynchronous data loading, JSON for compact data exchange, jQuery which simplified DOM manipulation, and frameworks like AngularJS which introduced MVC patterns, templating, and two-way data binding. More recently, Node.js enabled JavaScript to be used for server-side development as well.