> My JavaScript experience was similar. I blame it on the name, stupid as that sounds, because the first thought of a newbie is likely to be 'Oh, this is like J

> My JavaScript experience was similar. I blame it on the name, stupid as that sounds, because the first thought of a newbie is likely to be 'Oh, this is like Java'. Even worse, because JavaScript is one of the few languages that people think they can use without actually learning it, because it was somehow designed to be that way: an easy to use scripting language. Copying and pasting small snippets from the Web adds insult to injury, so that someone might claim to know JavaScript after working out some issue with the help of a JQuery plugin (Not that I'm against JQuery, I use it and love it, I'm talking about people not learning JavaScript at all, due to the easiness of JQuery possibly.) The thing to realize is, as you mentioned, and as Crockford says, JavaScript is Lisp in C's clothing; I'm not sure where Eckel got the idea that JavaScript is an abomination, reading Crockford's book should make someone think that JavaScript is an elegant language.