4 ms·

This book really convinced me that Javascript can be awesome: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596517748 http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596517748 And of course

by lwat 16y ago

This book really convinced me that Javascript can be awesome: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596517748 http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596517748 And of course there's all these fancy new things being built on top of it, like CoffeeScript. I just recently realized that it's not the horrible monster I always thought it was.

btilly 16y ago
The awesome core identified in that book is borrowed from older, better designed, languages. They are new to you if you are from the C/C++/VB/Java world. But that doesn't make them new or original. Incidentally you can find most of them in any decent scripting language, including Perl, Python, Ruby and Clojure.
- lwat 16y ago
  Yea but I have to learn Javascript anyway (client side apps) so why hate on it just because it could be better than it is? It's not that horrible of a language, I mean it's not nearly as bad as PHP and loads of people like PHP while almost everyone hates on Javascript.
  - btilly 16y ago
    I was not hating on JavaScript. I was confirming the core of silentbicycle's comment by telling the truth about JavaScript. As for why so many do hate on it, many workmen come to have strong opinions on their tools. JavaScript is a flawed tool that you're forced to use. So if its deficiencies grate on you, there is plenty of opportunity for them to grate more. Incidentally your PHP comment is completely irrelevant. Sure, lots of people like PHP despite the fact that it is a horrible language. But on the whole, in my experience, it is a more widely hated language than JavaScript. This despite the fact that people aren't forced to use PHP.
silentbicycle 16y ago
It's not a horrible monster, it's just what happens when you have a brilliant programmer working on an ambitious project, but an early draft version's bugs get frozen as part of a de-facto standard. It could have been a really good language if it had a lot more time to develop. While _Javascript: The Good Parts_ is good, it's hardly a ringing endorsement. Lua is a very similar language, but had over a decade longer to develop, with a smaller circle of active users. It's fixed many of Javascript's design flaws.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]

by lwat 16y ago

btilly 16y ago

The awesome core identified in that book is borrowed from older, better designed, languages. They are new to you if you are from the C/C++/VB/Java world. But that doesn't make them new or original. Incidentally you can find most of them in any decent scripting language, including Perl, Python, Ruby and Clojure.

lwat 16y ago
Yea but I have to learn Javascript anyway (client side apps) so why hate on it just because it could be better than it is? It's not that horrible of a language, I mean it's not nearly as bad as PHP and loads of people like PHP while almost everyone hates on Javascript.
- btilly 16y ago
  I was not hating on JavaScript. I was confirming the core of silentbicycle's comment by telling the truth about JavaScript. As for why so many do hate on it, many workmen come to have strong opinions on their tools. JavaScript is a flawed tool that you're forced to use. So if its deficiencies grate on you, there is plenty of opportunity for them to grate more. Incidentally your PHP comment is completely irrelevant. Sure, lots of people like PHP despite the fact that it is a horrible language. But on the whole, in my experience, it is a more widely hated language than JavaScript. This despite the fact that people aren't forced to use PHP.

silentbicycle 16y ago

It's not a horrible monster, it's just what happens when you have a brilliant programmer working on an ambitious project, but an early draft version's bugs get frozen as part of a de-facto standard. It could have been a really good language if it had a lot more time to develop. While _Javascript: The Good Parts_ is good, it's hardly a ringing endorsement. Lua is a very similar language, but had over a decade longer to develop, with a smaller circle of active users. It's fixed many of Javascript's design flaws.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]