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Yes, all JavaScript developers are script kiddies, of course. The language has its flaws of course, but come on. Gatekeeping doesn't do anything constructive.

SilasX 8y ago
Neither do strawman arguments. The point is not that everyone who uses JS is a script kiddie, which is indeed false. The point is that it's the self-reinforcing wide adoption that encourages further use, not the great language design. I would say the same of Windows and English, even though there are great English speakers and Windows devs.
- folkrav 8y ago
  Not particularly disagreeing with you on the language design bit, the language has many flaws indeed. However I don't really agree on your interpretation over the reasons why the language is so popular. How are things like Node.js or supersets like Typescript/Flow self-reinforcing the language? If JS was a purely browser oriented language the argument would make sense as it's basically _the_ only language available (other than WASM, but that's still relatively niche), but it hasn't been for some time now.
  - SilasX 8y ago
    I answered that: Lots of people learn coding by toying with JS (because of ease of setting up an environtment) -> large base of users willing to use the JS version of anything -> lots of development time invested in patching over its problems -> "Stars above, JS is so fast and has such great libraries!" None of that involves JS being a well-designed language, which was my original point and which you seem to agree with.
  - mtberatwork 8y ago
    I mean, whatever your thoughts are on the merits of the language, it's hard to deny though that Javascript's monopoly of the browser fueled its rise in popularity and propelled it to its current state.
- bryanlarsen 8y ago
  There are people who like the Javascript design. Compared with it's peers like Python & Ruby, javascript is more functional & "lispy". It's faster, and non-blocking I/O is the default. Closures are cleaner. Some people prefer prototypical inheritance compared to classical inheritance.

SilasX 8y ago

Neither do strawman arguments. The point is not that everyone who uses JS is a script kiddie, which is indeed false. The point is that it's the self-reinforcing wide adoption that encourages further use, not the great language design. I would say the same of Windows and English, even though there are great English speakers and Windows devs.

folkrav 8y ago
Not particularly disagreeing with you on the language design bit, the language has many flaws indeed. However I don't really agree on your interpretation over the reasons why the language is so popular. How are things like Node.js or supersets like Typescript/Flow self-reinforcing the language? If JS was a purely browser oriented language the argument would make sense as it's basically _the_ only language available (other than WASM, but that's still relatively niche), but it hasn't been for some time now.
- SilasX 8y ago
  I answered that: Lots of people learn coding by toying with JS (because of ease of setting up an environtment) -> large base of users willing to use the JS version of anything -> lots of development time invested in patching over its problems -> "Stars above, JS is so fast and has such great libraries!" None of that involves JS being a well-designed language, which was my original point and which you seem to agree with.
- mtberatwork 8y ago
  I mean, whatever your thoughts are on the merits of the language, it's hard to deny though that Javascript's monopoly of the browser fueled its rise in popularity and propelled it to its current state.
bryanlarsen 8y ago
There are people who like the Javascript design. Compared with it's peers like Python & Ruby, javascript is more functional & "lispy". It's faster, and non-blocking I/O is the default. Closures are cleaner. Some people prefer prototypical inheritance compared to classical inheritance.