For the job that JavaScript does, there is simply no alternative. The only thing that ever came close was ActionScript, but even that didn't didn't do what Java

For the job that JavaScript does, there is simply no alternative. The only thing that ever came close was ActionScript, but even that didn't didn't do what JavaScript does. There is only one programming language that embraces and enhances HTML & CSS; JavaScript. And it's a horrible language. I write JavaScript all day everyday. It's how I earn my living. But I'll admit that it's a terrible, quirky, cumbersome programming language. But then it does its job in a terrible, quirky, and cumbersome environment. The JS I write has to run in several different runtime systems. Run times that change at random, in a way we the developers have no control over. My JS code has to embrace uncertainty, unlike my Swift or PHP or Python that comes with concrete guarantees. But I know that as much as I love Swift, it couldn't do what JS does. Not as succinctly as JS. Not as effortlessly as JS. Swift isn't as street wise as JS. Swift doesn't have to put up with the crap that JS has to put up with. And so Swift can be elegant and modern. But it will never be as versatile as JS.