Question

What is the difference between event handlers and event listeners in JavaScript? They both execute a function when the event appears.
I don’t really get when to use event handlers and when to use event listeners.

Answer 1

There’s no difference; it’s just different terminology for the same thing.

There are different ways of associating functions with DOM elements for the purpose of event handling, that’s all. The differences emerged back when standards were in flux (or just because implementors were ornery or difficult) but ultimately the mechanisms are essentially the same.

If you’re confused about what sort of event handler registration to use, you can:

• Read more about the topic and choose an approach to use, perhaps on a browser-by-browser basis;
• Choose one of the popular JavaScript frameworks and use its mechanism for attaching handlers