4 ms·

>especially if it was all jscript-driven This is going to reveal an embarrassing lack of historical context, but could Google Maps have run in the Javascript o

>especially if it was all jscript-driven This is going to reveal an embarrassing lack of historical context, but could Google Maps have run in the Javascript of the '90s? Has the language changed significantly since then, or do we just... use it for everything now?

ksherlock 11y ago
JScript was introduced with IE 3 (1996) Dynamic HTML (modifying the page with javascript) was introduced with IE 4 (1997) iframes were introduced with HTML 4 (1998) I think. XMLHttpRequest was introduced with IE 5 (1999) So 1998 era, maybe, but Javascript had a reputation as being slow and buggy. Flash, Java applets, and even active X were more acceptable technology at the time. (Not trying to dismiss Netscape in my timeline -- I wrote it with respect to Microsoft implementing it.)
- Retric 11y ago
  Classic embrace, extend, extinguish, JScript(1996) was like JavaScript(1995), but a little late and not quite the same thing. Which made JavaScript seem a lot more buggy than it was because MS implemented something just a little different.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
mcintyre1994 11y ago
As I understand (per Wikipedia [0]) Microsoft invented XMLHttpRequest in 1999 and nothing we now consider Ajax could really exist before that. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMLHttpRequest https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMLHttpRequest
joezydeco 11y ago
We now have the horsepower in the browser to do it. We're a long way from 80586s at 90Mhz with 4MB of RAM and 60MB of disk.
- icebraining 11y ago
  Not just that, but the current engines are much more efficient as well. For example, when the first JIT engine was released for Firefox, it was an order of magnitude faster than the previous engine, even on the same hardware (for pure computation).
notahacker 11y ago
Even if similar code could have been written, it couldn't have been usable on the average home internet connection at the time...

ksherlock 11y ago

JScript was introduced with IE 3 (1996) Dynamic HTML (modifying the page with javascript) was introduced with IE 4 (1997) iframes were introduced with HTML 4 (1998) I think. XMLHttpRequest was introduced with IE 5 (1999) So 1998 era, maybe, but Javascript had a reputation as being slow and buggy. Flash, Java applets, and even active X were more acceptable technology at the time. (Not trying to dismiss Netscape in my timeline -- I wrote it with respect to Microsoft implementing it.)

Retric 11y ago
Classic embrace, extend, extinguish, JScript(1996) was like JavaScript(1995), but a little late and not quite the same thing. Which made JavaScript seem a lot more buggy than it was because MS implemented something just a little different.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

mcintyre1994 11y ago

As I understand (per Wikipedia [0]) Microsoft invented XMLHttpRequest in 1999 and nothing we now consider Ajax could really exist before that. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMLHttpRequest https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMLHttpRequest

joezydeco 11y ago

We now have the horsepower in the browser to do it. We're a long way from 80586s at 90Mhz with 4MB of RAM and 60MB of disk.

icebraining 11y ago
Not just that, but the current engines are much more efficient as well. For example, when the first JIT engine was released for Firefox, it was an order of magnitude faster than the previous engine, even on the same hardware (for pure computation).

notahacker 11y ago

Even if similar code could have been written, it couldn't have been usable on the average home internet connection at the time...