why did javascript beat java?

both were put into the browser. java was way faster, had a consistent implementation, better graphics, and a real class system.

Javascript is better than Java for the same reason that Scala is better than Java. Development of the Java language is now frozen that Oracle owns it. Oracle is just milking Java for money as a patent troll. If Java was still being worked on it would grow into what Scala is. Scala is basically statically typed Ruby. So with Scala you get a merging of Java and Javascript that cant happen in Java because Java is dead.