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I don't think it was your intention but you're being downvoted because it came across as you calling people who prefer JavaScript "lazy" and that they "don't ne

I don't think it was your intention but you're being downvoted because it came across as you calling people who prefer JavaScript "lazy" and that they "don't need to expand [their] mind". Usually when I need to use JavaScript it's because it's the right business decision, not because I'm lazy and unwilling to learn.

cultofmetatron 4y ago
> because it's the right business decision the only objective advantages of javascript is the availability of libraries and being able to build web applications with a single codebase. Beyond that, the only other reason people go with javascript is the ease of hiring js devs like cogs in a machine which is self fulfilling as then new people always go to js. But js is an objectively terrible language. Downvote me if you want but I spent years getting good at rooting out different classes of production bugs in javascript. Its not a good platform to build rock solid highly reliable infrastructure. A good developer can certainly do it for the same reason you can write good software in any platform. sqlite is written in c after all. But the language will lead you towards all sorts of dangerous bugs until you've spent years learning how to wrangle it. As for "business decisions" yea optimizing for easy hiring is how you end up with using javascript to write native mobile apps. a platform constrained in memory. You could make the argument that its afine for simple apps but how many startups died trying to push react native past what could be reasonably performant? I'll grant that v8 has done an excellent job at optimization but javascript the language isn't doing it many favors. Just about every startup that gets anywhere eventually backs away to native. Then there's electron. Beyond cross platform, The real big reason is you can throw a ton of javascript devs at it. Why bother prioritizing things like efficient battery usage? It would be amazing if some of that mindshare went to cross platform UIs for rust... Anyways, thats my rant. This is not to say javascript is never useful. certainly not all javascript devs are lazy but there are a lot out there who only know javascript. You cant evaluate all options if you don't have a frame of reference to evaluate all the options. me: Senior nodejs dev for 8 years before jumping to elixir because its design bypasses whole classes of issues javascript devs regularly run into when scaling.
- lucasmullens 4y ago
  I'm not arguing JavaScript isn't bad. It's pretty bad. Node.js and React Native are much easier to argue against than JavaScript for the web. It's pretty rare to pick something other than JS for an interactive website (although that is starting to change). I've used React Native for a few years. RN is fine, fast enough for most use-cases. They somewhat recently built a custom JS engine called Hermes that's even faster than v8. > Just about every startup that gets anywhere eventually backs away to native. I really doubt that, but regardless not everything is a startup. Your banking app or that parking app you have to download and use only once will work just fine with the slowness of React Native. That said I like Flutter notably more than React Native (imo Dart is slightly better than TypeScript and way better than JavaScript), and I guess I agree with your larger point, that people aren't exploring their options enough. Flutter might often be the better choice, but people reach for React Native out of familiarity.

cultofmetatron 4y ago

> because it's the right business decision the only objective advantages of javascript is the availability of libraries and being able to build web applications with a single codebase. Beyond that, the only other reason people go with javascript is the ease of hiring js devs like cogs in a machine which is self fulfilling as then new people always go to js. But js is an objectively terrible language. Downvote me if you want but I spent years getting good at rooting out different classes of production bugs in javascript. Its not a good platform to build rock solid highly reliable infrastructure. A good developer can certainly do it for the same reason you can write good software in any platform. sqlite is written in c after all. But the language will lead you towards all sorts of dangerous bugs until you've spent years learning how to wrangle it. As for "business decisions" yea optimizing for easy hiring is how you end up with using javascript to write native mobile apps. a platform constrained in memory. You could make the argument that its afine for simple apps but how many startups died trying to push react native past what could be reasonably performant? I'll grant that v8 has done an excellent job at optimization but javascript the language isn't doing it many favors. Just about every startup that gets anywhere eventually backs away to native. Then there's electron. Beyond cross platform, The real big reason is you can throw a ton of javascript devs at it. Why bother prioritizing things like efficient battery usage? It would be amazing if some of that mindshare went to cross platform UIs for rust... Anyways, thats my rant. This is not to say javascript is never useful. certainly not all javascript devs are lazy but there are a lot out there who only know javascript. You cant evaluate all options if you don't have a frame of reference to evaluate all the options. me: Senior nodejs dev for 8 years before jumping to elixir because its design bypasses whole classes of issues javascript devs regularly run into when scaling.

lucasmullens 4y ago
I'm not arguing JavaScript isn't bad. It's pretty bad. Node.js and React Native are much easier to argue against than JavaScript for the web. It's pretty rare to pick something other than JS for an interactive website (although that is starting to change). I've used React Native for a few years. RN is fine, fast enough for most use-cases. They somewhat recently built a custom JS engine called Hermes that's even faster than v8. > Just about every startup that gets anywhere eventually backs away to native. I really doubt that, but regardless not everything is a startup. Your banking app or that parking app you have to download and use only once will work just fine with the slowness of React Native. That said I like Flutter notably more than React Native (imo Dart is slightly better than TypeScript and way better than JavaScript), and I guess I agree with your larger point, that people aren't exploring their options enough. Flutter might often be the better choice, but people reach for React Native out of familiarity.