Draft:Js1k
 | This article needs more links to other articles to help integrate it into the encyclopedia. (October 2025) |
JS1K was an annual JavaScript programming competition that challenged developers to create small and creative applications in no more than 1 kilobyte (1024 bytes) of JavaScript code. Running from 2010 to 2019, the contest became a showcase for the ingenuity of web developers, celebrating both minimalism and technical creativity within the constraints of browser-based programming.
Each year featured a different theme—such as “Love”, “Dragons”, or “Magic”, and participants would craft demos that ran entirely in the browser using only the `<canvas>` element and vanilla JavaScript. Despite the extreme size limit, entries often demonstrated complex visual effects, 3D rendering, physics simulations, or full interactive games.
The competition was organized by Peter van der Zee, who also maintained the official site and archives. JS1K helped popularize the code golf and demoscene cultures within the JavaScript community, inspiring many developers to explore the artistic and experimental side of web programming.