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> JavaScript is such a polarising topic and I wonder why Probably because it's a gatekeeper language - in order to run code in a browser, you have to use this

by m12k 5y ago

> JavaScript is such a polarising topic and I wonder why Probably because it's a gatekeeper language - in order to run code in a browser, you have to use this language[1]. That means a lot of developers that dislike it enough that they would switch to another language if they could, are stuck with it because they need to target the browser. This "captive audience" is effectively forced to engage with the things they dislike on a daily basis - at that point you either develop Stockholm syndrome, or the resentment grows into hatred. Thus the "warts" that JavaScript has (by nature of having been thrown together in a couple weeks originally, and being iteratively turned into a "real" language over the following decades) have a chance to cause much stronger negative feelings than they would if people could just switch to something they liked more. [1] I know, I know, WebAssembly may change this, and there are already niche alternatives like Scala.js, ClojureScript, Blazor and Reason - but for the most part, you still can't effectively run things in a browser without knowing JavaScript, even if just for debugging

_pdp_ 5y ago
All good things start small and evolve. The C programming language was created over the weekend if I am not mistaken and look how much it stuck for better or worse. JavaScript was also accidental. There was a time you could program web sites in VisualBasic, ActiveX, Java, Silverlight and Flash. They are now all gone. There is no denying that the JavaScript language is resilient. It stuck for better or worse. Developers can choose to program in whichever language they want but only JavaScript is officially supported on the browser. Any other language will require a transpiler or compiler (when it comes to WASM). Similarly you can program iOS and Android apps in whichever language you like but only Objective-C/Swift and Java are officially supported. All other languages you need to support yourself. The official spoken language in UK is English whether you like it or not. You are free to speak any other language you want but social frameworks and civil services evolve around a single language. If developers are so smart how come we cannot understand these basic principles?

by m12k 5y ago

_pdp_ 5y ago

All good things start small and evolve. The C programming language was created over the weekend if I am not mistaken and look how much it stuck for better or worse. JavaScript was also accidental. There was a time you could program web sites in VisualBasic, ActiveX, Java, Silverlight and Flash. They are now all gone. There is no denying that the JavaScript language is resilient. It stuck for better or worse. Developers can choose to program in whichever language they want but only JavaScript is officially supported on the browser. Any other language will require a transpiler or compiler (when it comes to WASM). Similarly you can program iOS and Android apps in whichever language you like but only Objective-C/Swift and Java are officially supported. All other languages you need to support yourself. The official spoken language in UK is English whether you like it or not. You are free to speak any other language you want but social frameworks and civil services evolve around a single language. If developers are so smart how come we cannot understand these basic principles?