Javascript: Semicolons or Not?

[kenm]

In parallel, I'm taking a javascript (browser centric) and a NodeJS course online. In the javascript course, the instructor is using semicolons at the end of every statement while in the NodeJS course, the instructor isn't using any semicolons.

I found this, but that's only one person's opinion. I'd like to get input from the community on this.

[langenet]

As a Java developer, in general, the semicolon terminates the statement with a few exceptions.

[kenm]

As a Java developer, in general, the semicolon terminates the statement with a few exceptions.

In Java, the semicolon is required as a command separator, just like it is in C. In Javascript it seems to be optional and since NodeJS is javascript it is optional there as well. After doing some research and finding cases where javascript may not do what is expected without semicolons, I've decided to use semicolons for both browser-centric and NodeJS coding. I liken this to adding parenthesis around expressions to make it clear how the expression is to be evaluated.

[langenet]

I'm tied to using the semicolon... I think I remember now that you mention it that in Javascript, it was optional. Haven't done a lot of Javascript for a few years. Either way, you can't go wrong.