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Swift is nice, although it’s too close to objc. I think it’s time for Apple (and Google) to embrace JavaScript as the app development language.

thosakwe 8y ago
Why JavaScript, out of all languages in the world? I don’t think that’s a particularly great choice.
- jmpt 8y ago
  Large headcount of developers. Everybody and their dog does Javascript.
  - AsyncAwait 8y ago
    Us holdouts would like to have somewhere left to run to too.
  - izacus 8y ago
    So by that metric, Java is a significantly better choice still ;)
  - scarface74 8y ago
    There are all sorts of optimizations that are much harder to do in a non statically typed language. There are also all types of guaranteed safe automated refactoring you can do with a statically type language. I shutter to think about using a non type safe language with a large code base.
  - DannyBee 8y ago
    If that's your metric, java has many more developers (millions more, in fact).
- tabs_masterrace 8y ago
  Javascript is just a platform to run transcompiled stuff on these days, not unlike the name giver's JVM
staticassertion 8y ago
Javascript would not meet the 'fast' requirement, as expressed in the linked article.
- redial 8y ago
  The only requirement Javascript meets is being included by default in web browsers.
douglaswlance 8y ago
Javascript is not a good choice. It's both verbose and unsafe.
- staticassertion 8y ago
  Javascript meets the 'safe' definition in the article - memory safe.
  - spunker540 8y ago
    It’s still fairly easy to have subtle memory leaks in JavaScript code due to the way closures can keep variables in scope indefinitely. https://blog.meteor.com/an-interesting-kind-of-javascript-memory-leak-8b47d2e7f156 https://blog.meteor.com/an-interesting-kind-of-javascript-me...
    - dbaupp 8y ago
      Memory leaks are memory safe, or, at least, don't lead to memory corruption like other violations of memory safety. https://huonw.github.io/blog/2016/04/memory-leaks-are-memory-safe/ https://huonw.github.io/blog/2016/04/memory-leaks-are-memory...
rmrfrmrf 8y ago
Apple already has with JavaScriptCore.
- scarface74 8y ago
  And what few people know, is that Apple already had a platform where all of the “apps” were written with JavaScript + TVML (a proprietary Apple markup language) - the 3rd Gen AppleTV. If I’m not mistaken, you can still write apps for the ATV4 that way. Plex was ported to the 3rd Gen AppleTV as an unofficial app just by running a server on your computer and redirecting DNS to it. https://github.com/iBaa/PlexConnect/wiki/Install-Guide https://github.com/iBaa/PlexConnect/wiki/Install-Guide
  - tomwilson 8y ago
    You can still on the current Apple TV. In fact if your app is just full of video content or similar then you probably should.
    - scarface74 8y ago
      Wow. That looks easy..... https://www.raywenderlich.com/372-tvos-tutorial-using-tvml-templates https://www.raywenderlich.com/372-tvos-tutorial-using-tvml-t...

thosakwe 8y ago

Why JavaScript, out of all languages in the world? I don’t think that’s a particularly great choice.

jmpt 8y ago
Large headcount of developers. Everybody and their dog does Javascript.
- AsyncAwait 8y ago
  Us holdouts would like to have somewhere left to run to too.
- izacus 8y ago
  So by that metric, Java is a significantly better choice still ;)
- scarface74 8y ago
  There are all sorts of optimizations that are much harder to do in a non statically typed language. There are also all types of guaranteed safe automated refactoring you can do with a statically type language. I shutter to think about using a non type safe language with a large code base.
- DannyBee 8y ago
  If that's your metric, java has many more developers (millions more, in fact).
tabs_masterrace 8y ago
Javascript is just a platform to run transcompiled stuff on these days, not unlike the name giver's JVM

staticassertion 8y ago

Javascript would not meet the 'fast' requirement, as expressed in the linked article.

redial 8y ago
The only requirement Javascript meets is being included by default in web browsers.

douglaswlance 8y ago

Javascript is not a good choice. It's both verbose and unsafe.

staticassertion 8y ago
Javascript meets the 'safe' definition in the article - memory safe.
- spunker540 8y ago
  It’s still fairly easy to have subtle memory leaks in JavaScript code due to the way closures can keep variables in scope indefinitely. https://blog.meteor.com/an-interesting-kind-of-javascript-memory-leak-8b47d2e7f156 https://blog.meteor.com/an-interesting-kind-of-javascript-me...
  - dbaupp 8y ago
    Memory leaks are memory safe, or, at least, don't lead to memory corruption like other violations of memory safety. https://huonw.github.io/blog/2016/04/memory-leaks-are-memory-safe/ https://huonw.github.io/blog/2016/04/memory-leaks-are-memory...

rmrfrmrf 8y ago

Apple already has with JavaScriptCore.

scarface74 8y ago
And what few people know, is that Apple already had a platform where all of the “apps” were written with JavaScript + TVML (a proprietary Apple markup language) - the 3rd Gen AppleTV. If I’m not mistaken, you can still write apps for the ATV4 that way. Plex was ported to the 3rd Gen AppleTV as an unofficial app just by running a server on your computer and redirecting DNS to it. https://github.com/iBaa/PlexConnect/wiki/Install-Guide https://github.com/iBaa/PlexConnect/wiki/Install-Guide
- tomwilson 8y ago
  You can still on the current Apple TV. In fact if your app is just full of video content or similar then you probably should.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    Wow. That looks easy..... https://www.raywenderlich.com/372-tvos-tutorial-using-tvml-templates https://www.raywenderlich.com/372-tvos-tutorial-using-tvml-t...