3 ms·

I use coffeescript in 2020. It's a great language of choice especially if you come with a background of good programming languages like Ruby, Python, Elixir, Et

by neya 6y ago

I use coffeescript in 2020. It's a great language of choice especially if you come with a background of good programming languages like Ruby, Python, Elixir, Etc. Coffeescript makes code more succinct, readable and javascript tolerable. I tried typescript, but, it's not my cup of tea and it has it's own quirks. I work with large scale media companies and never has coffeescript been in my way. If anything, it has made javascript bearable. These days, my choice is to avoid Javascript if I can and use something like Phoenix LiveView if I can get away with it. I wish the coffeescript developers can ignore all the hipster noise and continue to support the project for their effort has saved so much valuable developer time.

lioeters 6y ago
I used CoffeeScript for a few years, and I went in deep. I loved the succinct and elegant syntax, it made coding in JavaScript a joy. I still think it's a wonderfully designed language with merit and worth. When I decided to move on to ES2015, one reason was that JavaScript grew up, adopting some of the ideas of CoffeeScript, and the non-standard aspects of the latter became incompatible. (I recall some ECMAScript features couldn't be implemented in CoffeeScript, at least for a long time, due to existing syntax.) A bigger reason was the mindshare of the developer community. When the majority adopted Babel and staying "future compatible", using modern language features that are guaranteed to be in the standard. I want the code I write to be accessible to the majority, so more people can read, understand, and contribute to it. This is important for team work, such as easier onboarding of new members, so they don't have to learn a new (flavor of) language. Choosing an "alternative" language also has long-term implications. When a developer moves on to a different project or company, they leave behind the code for others to maintain and develop. I realized that CoffeeScript would become legacy code, that someone will have to convert back to "normal" JavaScript eventually. I couldn't justify my developer convenience with that associated cost to others. Funny enough, these days I prefer to write in TypeScript, another alternative flavor. I'm not "all in" yet, mainly because other developers at my work haven't picked it up. I have the impression that TypeScript is more of a standard than just a flavor, so I believe that writing it will not incur a long-term cost, but rather be a benefit, as more maintainable, type-safe(r) codebase. Still, time will tell if that's true. Maybe I'm again contributing to legacy code, this time in TypeScript.

by neya 6y ago

lioeters 6y ago

I used CoffeeScript for a few years, and I went in deep. I loved the succinct and elegant syntax, it made coding in JavaScript a joy. I still think it's a wonderfully designed language with merit and worth. When I decided to move on to ES2015, one reason was that JavaScript grew up, adopting some of the ideas of CoffeeScript, and the non-standard aspects of the latter became incompatible. (I recall some ECMAScript features couldn't be implemented in CoffeeScript, at least for a long time, due to existing syntax.) A bigger reason was the mindshare of the developer community. When the majority adopted Babel and staying "future compatible", using modern language features that are guaranteed to be in the standard. I want the code I write to be accessible to the majority, so more people can read, understand, and contribute to it. This is important for team work, such as easier onboarding of new members, so they don't have to learn a new (flavor of) language. Choosing an "alternative" language also has long-term implications. When a developer moves on to a different project or company, they leave behind the code for others to maintain and develop. I realized that CoffeeScript would become legacy code, that someone will have to convert back to "normal" JavaScript eventually. I couldn't justify my developer convenience with that associated cost to others. Funny enough, these days I prefer to write in TypeScript, another alternative flavor. I'm not "all in" yet, mainly because other developers at my work haven't picked it up. I have the impression that TypeScript is more of a standard than just a flavor, so I believe that writing it will not incur a long-term cost, but rather be a benefit, as more maintainable, type-safe(r) codebase. Still, time will tell if that's true. Maybe I'm again contributing to legacy code, this time in TypeScript.