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Is JavaScript the Future of Programming?

30 points by clwen 14y ago

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
eli_gottlieb 14y ago
God I hope not.
mansoor-s 14y ago
As a JavaScript developer who loves JS, I really hope not! Its a great and fun language but it has far too many flaws. Updates to the language specs aren't coming fast enough.
drivebyacct2 14y ago
That a language is usable on the server and client is cause for it to be the "future of programming"? What an unbelievably outlandishly over simplification of everything that is part of this implication.
xentronium 14y ago
Are Linkbaitish Titles the Future of Journalism?
- nine_k 14y ago
  Why, they are the present.
anonymouz 14y ago
No.
- ubersoldat2k7 14y ago
  +1
swalsh 14y ago
Whenever I see a headline such as "is x the future of z", the answer is almost always "not exclusively".
skrebbel 14y ago
Can every tech mag article that ends with a question mark be answered with 'No'?
- tsahyt 14y ago
  I like to be careful with forall statements but in this very case, yes.
arikrak 14y ago
News titles exaggerate. They just mean that Javascript is growing in popularity.
nicholassmith 14y ago
I'll throw in with "Please no, never", but if we continue the expect trend of shift towards web apps over the next 5-10 years then obviously JS is going to become a defacto tool, unless something else takes off but I can only think of Dart which compiles to JS anyway unless it's that build of Chrome with the VM in. So what's next, an attempt a making a wide reaching client side language to usurp JS, or more languages that just compile down to JS and we treat it much like assembler gets treated now?
trimbo 14y ago
All linkbaity headlines posed as a question are answered should be answered with "no", but I'm going to make the "yes" argument. Right now, Javascript is the most comprehensive, accessible, documented environment for someone who is, say, 12 years old. When I was that age, it was BASIC or Logo. Then it was Turbo Pascal / Turbo C. Next it was PHP. Right now, it's Javascript. And someone can grow with that. Chrome and Firefox are on the verge of being (if not already) IDEs for Javascript. There's of course node.js. Anyone can go into the code from websites and pull it apart (see Hanselman's post [1]). Codecademy is based on Javascript, and so on. That's my argument for "yes". Not because Javascript is at all good, but because it's the most ubiquitous and accessible language for the next generation. And on top of that, more energy is being poured into it than anything else. [1] - http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheInternetIsNotABlackBoxLookInside.aspx http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheInternetIsNotABlackBoxLookI...
kls 14y ago
Despite the lack of love by many of those that consider themselves to be "true" or "hardcore" programmers or developers, JavaScript much like VB before it has a place and it does a good job at what it is designed for. JavaScript much like VB serves the purpose of gluing together apps that are close to the user and doing so rapidly. There is no denying that developing an app on a HTML/CSS/JavaScript front-end and a Node.js back end is fast probably one of the fastest stacks to develop in that I have seen in my career. Probably the only thing that was faster was back in the days of CGI/Perl but that is comparing apples to oranges as back in those days interactivity was minimal. It is almost as fast as building a traditional VB desktop app, which is pretty amazing given the infrastructure needed for web apps. There is definitely a place in the mainstream for JavaScript but it does not get all the credit, projects such as Node, Modernizr and Dojo have done just as much work to make JavaScript a rapid development choice as the core language guys have.
SenorWilson 14y ago
JavaScript is useful for some things; it can be used for all things, but that doesn't mean it should be.
taylodl 14y ago
Maybe we need to think of 'JavaScript' as a term representing a set of uncompiled languages targeting the browser runtime environment. With that definition I would say, sure - 'JavaScript' has a very bright future.
shaydoc 14y ago
Javascript is certainly addictive and fun to program with. Obviously the driver is, that it is part of every browser, and now the server. While flawed, it is so very expressive as a language. I think now that we are seeing some serious architectural concepts implemented and documented in the various libraries, it is making development much easier and faster. I recently discussed this with a colleague, and we agreed, that the ability to do JavaScript client and server (node) side has made it a no brainer, end to end javascript over RESTful services is the best way for "us" to go. I like that in windows 8 you can reference class libraries written in c# directly in your is project also. So I see a bright future for JavaScript :-)
alter8 14y ago
No, it can't be the future because it's already the present. The future comes when something else replaces it.
general_failure 14y ago
Sure, why not. It's better C++ and STL.
benhoskins 14y ago
Wow; node.js comes along, and its like there's a hole in collective memory. Both Netscape and Microsoft had javascript rocking serverside late nineties / early 2000's (the same time as VBScript and CGI). Also, other language interpreters ran code client-side (IE ran VBScript as I remember). It would be nice if history was as clearly delineated as stated, but it isn't. The jist of the argument is accurate tho; even people writing VBScript thought js was 'hacky' on the server :o)

30 points by clwen 14y ago

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

eli_gottlieb 14y ago

God I hope not.

mansoor-s 14y ago

As a JavaScript developer who loves JS, I really hope not! Its a great and fun language but it has far too many flaws. Updates to the language specs aren't coming fast enough.

drivebyacct2 14y ago

That a language is usable on the server and client is cause for it to be the "future of programming"? What an unbelievably outlandishly over simplification of everything that is part of this implication.

xentronium 14y ago

Are Linkbaitish Titles the Future of Journalism?

nine_k 14y ago
Why, they are the present.

anonymouz 14y ago

No.

ubersoldat2k7 14y ago
+1

swalsh 14y ago

Whenever I see a headline such as "is x the future of z", the answer is almost always "not exclusively".

skrebbel 14y ago

Can every tech mag article that ends with a question mark be answered with 'No'?

tsahyt 14y ago
I like to be careful with forall statements but in this very case, yes.

arikrak 14y ago

News titles exaggerate. They just mean that Javascript is growing in popularity.

nicholassmith 14y ago

I'll throw in with "Please no, never", but if we continue the expect trend of shift towards web apps over the next 5-10 years then obviously JS is going to become a defacto tool, unless something else takes off but I can only think of Dart which compiles to JS anyway unless it's that build of Chrome with the VM in. So what's next, an attempt a making a wide reaching client side language to usurp JS, or more languages that just compile down to JS and we treat it much like assembler gets treated now?

trimbo 14y ago

All linkbaity headlines posed as a question are answered should be answered with "no", but I'm going to make the "yes" argument. Right now, Javascript is the most comprehensive, accessible, documented environment for someone who is, say, 12 years old. When I was that age, it was BASIC or Logo. Then it was Turbo Pascal / Turbo C. Next it was PHP. Right now, it's Javascript. And someone can grow with that. Chrome and Firefox are on the verge of being (if not already) IDEs for Javascript. There's of course node.js. Anyone can go into the code from websites and pull it apart (see Hanselman's post [1]). Codecademy is based on Javascript, and so on. That's my argument for "yes". Not because Javascript is at all good, but because it's the most ubiquitous and accessible language for the next generation. And on top of that, more energy is being poured into it than anything else. [1] - http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheInternetIsNotABlackBoxLookInside.aspx http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheInternetIsNotABlackBoxLookI...

kls 14y ago

Despite the lack of love by many of those that consider themselves to be "true" or "hardcore" programmers or developers, JavaScript much like VB before it has a place and it does a good job at what it is designed for. JavaScript much like VB serves the purpose of gluing together apps that are close to the user and doing so rapidly. There is no denying that developing an app on a HTML/CSS/JavaScript front-end and a Node.js back end is fast probably one of the fastest stacks to develop in that I have seen in my career. Probably the only thing that was faster was back in the days of CGI/Perl but that is comparing apples to oranges as back in those days interactivity was minimal. It is almost as fast as building a traditional VB desktop app, which is pretty amazing given the infrastructure needed for web apps. There is definitely a place in the mainstream for JavaScript but it does not get all the credit, projects such as Node, Modernizr and Dojo have done just as much work to make JavaScript a rapid development choice as the core language guys have.

SenorWilson 14y ago

JavaScript is useful for some things; it can be used for all things, but that doesn't mean it should be.

taylodl 14y ago

Maybe we need to think of 'JavaScript' as a term representing a set of uncompiled languages targeting the browser runtime environment. With that definition I would say, sure - 'JavaScript' has a very bright future.

shaydoc 14y ago

Javascript is certainly addictive and fun to program with. Obviously the driver is, that it is part of every browser, and now the server. While flawed, it is so very expressive as a language. I think now that we are seeing some serious architectural concepts implemented and documented in the various libraries, it is making development much easier and faster. I recently discussed this with a colleague, and we agreed, that the ability to do JavaScript client and server (node) side has made it a no brainer, end to end javascript over RESTful services is the best way for "us" to go. I like that in windows 8 you can reference class libraries written in c# directly in your is project also. So I see a bright future for JavaScript :-)

alter8 14y ago

No, it can't be the future because it's already the present. The future comes when something else replaces it.

general_failure 14y ago

Sure, why not. It's better C++ and STL.

benhoskins 14y ago

Wow; node.js comes along, and its like there's a hole in collective memory. Both Netscape and Microsoft had javascript rocking serverside late nineties / early 2000's (the same time as VBScript and CGI). Also, other language interpreters ran code client-side (IE ran VBScript as I remember). It would be nice if history was as clearly delineated as stated, but it isn't. The jist of the argument is accurate tho; even people writing VBScript thought js was 'hacky' on the server :o)