> Lots of people like their pet language more than JavaScript, so why don't we see tons of compilers like Python->JavaScript, Lua->JavaScript, Ruby->JavaScript

> Lots of people like their pet language more than JavaScript, so why don't we see tons of compilers like Python->JavaScript, Lua->JavaScript, Ruby->JavaScript etc? Uuuuhhh, I'm really embarrassed to ask, but did you check with Google before posting that? "Tons of compilers" is exactly what we have now: https://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/wiki/List-of-languages-that-compile-to-JS https://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/wiki/List-of-lang... . In fact my own job involves writing Java code that ends up being compiled to JS. I'd be overjoyed if such things were not necessary. I would even be okay with never using things like 1 + "2" or monkeypatching in 50% of my code if that made that 50% conform to some widely adopted cross-language standard. That would mean 50% less effort spent on any future rewrite. 50% less risk from using the new and shiny platform that came out yesterday. 50% lower rate of platform-induced bitrot for the project as a whole. C'mon, who wouldn't want the world to work like that?