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Oh how I miss those code inspections and refactorings available for Java. Unfortunately I am forced to used Javascript at the moment and this language just plai

by jansan 9y ago

Oh how I miss those code inspections and refactorings available for Java. Unfortunately I am forced to used Javascript at the moment and this language just plain sucks compared to Java, although Webstorm is trying really hard to support me. I really hope something like Java, or even better Kotlin, will replace Javascript in future for programming browser applications.

salimmadjd 9y ago
Have you looked into Elm or other strongly typed/functional languages?
- jansan 9y ago
  No, because I did not exprect my project to become as big as it is now. Also, I am using a lot of third party libraries, and I am not sure if they would work seamlessly with another language that compiles to Javascript.
Aeolus98 9y ago
Scala.js scratches that itch for me. I rarely write frontend code, but when I do the extra IDE support given to me by IDEA for Scala.js is pretty great. I'm a full time Scala dev though, so I'm totally biased
- virtualwhys 9y ago
  It is kind of surreal to look at a source file and not immediately know if it's Scala or Scala.js (like, oh wait, this is the front end). Just finished porting a legacy 5K Coffeescript front end over to Scala.js. Having a typed front end with all the power of Scala completely transforms the browser development experience. Great stuff. Only major drawback is generated js binaries incur a 160KB "tax", primarily due to size of Scala collections. Though, FWIW, the front end weighs in at 232KB non-gzip'd, and was able to scrap jQuery + DataTables + Modal window and Validation plugin dependencies -- shaved off about 200KB compared to previous front end.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
kakarot 9y ago
There are projects of differing scope like TypeScript, ClojureScript, WebAssembly (not standardized but getting there) etc that are all helping to ease our pain. Javascript isn't going away but writing in pure JavaScript is. Combine those with Babel or other ES6 transpilers, a linting and build system, and you've got yourself a pretty decent environment. Personally I find working with JS far more fun (this phrase is used loosely) than working with Java.
nalllar 9y ago
> I really hope something like Java, or even better Kotlin, will replace Javascript ... Have you tried Kotlin's javascript backend? https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/js-overview.html https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/js-overview.html
- jansan 9y ago
  Those things are nice, but how would I work with third party libraries like Paper.js? I feel that the difficulties would outnumber the benefits in my case.
  - nalllar 9y ago
    If it's in typescript or has type definitions available you can convert those type definitions with ts2kt. Failing that, you can use the dynamic type. ts2kt - https://github.com/kotlin/ts2kt https://github.com/kotlin/ts2kt type definitions for many libraries - http://definitelytyped.org/ http://definitelytyped.org/ dynamic type - https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/dynamic-type.html https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/dynamic-type.html
- virtualwhys 9y ago
  > Have you tried Kotlin's javascript backend? Generates large js binaries, poor js interop; it's well behind the curve compared to Scala.js and Clojurescript on the JVM. Think they're putting all their developer eggs into the Native basket, which makes sense, iOS + Android would be huge for the language's adoption.
  - swsieber 9y ago
    The teams are different - the native team has a distinctly different team than the one working on JS. I'm not sure what the overlap between the JVM and JS team is though. I'd say quite simply that the JS target is just still quite young.
scalatohaskell 9y ago
Scalajs easily
bebop 9y ago
I have been learning Clojurescript with re-frame (basically react + opinions about how to write apps). This has been the most fun and logical way to write SPA's I have ever experienced. Bonus points because it will hot-reload code (figwheel) without destroying your current state. Speaking of state, you can see the entire state of your application with re-frisk, which also shows all the events going into the system. Really wonderful stuff.
- mmargerum 9y ago
  I’m learning it as well. Was pretty blown away when I created a reagent SPA app skeleton with one lein command. Been doing imperative / oo for years so this is quite different but I’m persevering because I’ve bought into the reactive UI for web apps and JS just seemed like a total mismatch
drinchev 9y ago
You can get far better IDE experience if you use TypeScript, instead of plain JS. Webstorm does a lot of things that are quite popular in IDEA, because it can rely on the type system. This includes refactoring and realtime compiler errors.
- yourkin 9y ago
  I used to love Webstorm. It works great for a simple layout and the code inspections and suggestions really speed things up. But a modern setup with ES6, Vue and Webpack almost completely render the IDE unusable for me -- everything slows down to an unbearable speed and most of the inspections either don't work at all or trip over themselves. With that, I've switched to Sublime Text almost exclusively. Any pointers on how to adjust Webstorm, apart from using TypeScript?
  - drinchev 9y ago
    Webpack watch mode is how I use it. On top of that you can run webpack outside of the IDE, just like you do with sublime text. My setup is i7 with 16 GB, and only electron app ( webpack + react ) will make my setup really slow. Anything else usually is swallowed by webstorm
slackingoff2018 9y ago
Typescript with TsLint VNext extension and VSCode is amazing. They just added code refactoring support a few weeks ago too. Make sure you set your linter and typescript compile settings to be really strict. It will remind you a lot of Java/C#

by jansan 9y ago

salimmadjd 9y ago

Have you looked into Elm or other strongly typed/functional languages?

jansan 9y ago
No, because I did not exprect my project to become as big as it is now. Also, I am using a lot of third party libraries, and I am not sure if they would work seamlessly with another language that compiles to Javascript.

Aeolus98 9y ago

Scala.js scratches that itch for me. I rarely write frontend code, but when I do the extra IDE support given to me by IDEA for Scala.js is pretty great. I'm a full time Scala dev though, so I'm totally biased

virtualwhys 9y ago
It is kind of surreal to look at a source file and not immediately know if it's Scala or Scala.js (like, oh wait, this is the front end). Just finished porting a legacy 5K Coffeescript front end over to Scala.js. Having a typed front end with all the power of Scala completely transforms the browser development experience. Great stuff. Only major drawback is generated js binaries incur a 160KB "tax", primarily due to size of Scala collections. Though, FWIW, the front end weighs in at 232KB non-gzip'd, and was able to scrap jQuery + DataTables + Modal window and Validation plugin dependencies -- shaved off about 200KB compared to previous front end.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

kakarot 9y ago

There are projects of differing scope like TypeScript, ClojureScript, WebAssembly (not standardized but getting there) etc that are all helping to ease our pain. Javascript isn't going away but writing in pure JavaScript is. Combine those with Babel or other ES6 transpilers, a linting and build system, and you've got yourself a pretty decent environment. Personally I find working with JS far more fun (this phrase is used loosely) than working with Java.

nalllar 9y ago

> I really hope something like Java, or even better Kotlin, will replace Javascript ... Have you tried Kotlin's javascript backend? https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/js-overview.html https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/js-overview.html

jansan 9y ago
Those things are nice, but how would I work with third party libraries like Paper.js? I feel that the difficulties would outnumber the benefits in my case.
- nalllar 9y ago
  If it's in typescript or has type definitions available you can convert those type definitions with ts2kt. Failing that, you can use the dynamic type. ts2kt - https://github.com/kotlin/ts2kt https://github.com/kotlin/ts2kt type definitions for many libraries - http://definitelytyped.org/ http://definitelytyped.org/ dynamic type - https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/dynamic-type.html https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/dynamic-type.html
virtualwhys 9y ago
> Have you tried Kotlin's javascript backend? Generates large js binaries, poor js interop; it's well behind the curve compared to Scala.js and Clojurescript on the JVM. Think they're putting all their developer eggs into the Native basket, which makes sense, iOS + Android would be huge for the language's adoption.
- swsieber 9y ago
  The teams are different - the native team has a distinctly different team than the one working on JS. I'm not sure what the overlap between the JVM and JS team is though. I'd say quite simply that the JS target is just still quite young.

scalatohaskell 9y ago

Scalajs easily

bebop 9y ago

I have been learning Clojurescript with re-frame (basically react + opinions about how to write apps). This has been the most fun and logical way to write SPA's I have ever experienced. Bonus points because it will hot-reload code (figwheel) without destroying your current state. Speaking of state, you can see the entire state of your application with re-frisk, which also shows all the events going into the system. Really wonderful stuff.

mmargerum 9y ago
I’m learning it as well. Was pretty blown away when I created a reagent SPA app skeleton with one lein command. Been doing imperative / oo for years so this is quite different but I’m persevering because I’ve bought into the reactive UI for web apps and JS just seemed like a total mismatch

drinchev 9y ago

You can get far better IDE experience if you use TypeScript, instead of plain JS. Webstorm does a lot of things that are quite popular in IDEA, because it can rely on the type system. This includes refactoring and realtime compiler errors.

yourkin 9y ago
I used to love Webstorm. It works great for a simple layout and the code inspections and suggestions really speed things up. But a modern setup with ES6, Vue and Webpack almost completely render the IDE unusable for me -- everything slows down to an unbearable speed and most of the inspections either don't work at all or trip over themselves. With that, I've switched to Sublime Text almost exclusively. Any pointers on how to adjust Webstorm, apart from using TypeScript?
- drinchev 9y ago
  Webpack watch mode is how I use it. On top of that you can run webpack outside of the IDE, just like you do with sublime text. My setup is i7 with 16 GB, and only electron app ( webpack + react ) will make my setup really slow. Anything else usually is swallowed by webstorm

slackingoff2018 9y ago

Typescript with TsLint VNext extension and VSCode is amazing. They just added code refactoring support a few weeks ago too. Make sure you set your linter and typescript compile settings to be really strict. It will remind you a lot of Java/C#