17 ms·

Javascript is.

by olaf 14y ago

Javascript is.

Turing_Machine 14y ago
Agree 100%. You don't have to install anything. It's on every machine with a modern web browser, even mobile devices. It's even got the "nastiness" factor down. :-) We're also starting to see things like Snap written in pure JavaScript/HTML5: http://snap.berkeley.edu/snapsource/snap.html http://snap.berkeley.edu/snapsource/snap.html
- olaf 14y ago
  Not to forget the rapid evolution of the language, ECMAScript 6 will get ... 1. classes http://wiki.ecmascript.org/doku.php?id=harmony:classes http://wiki.ecmascript.org/doku.php?id=harmony:classes 2. modules http://wiki.ecmascript.org/doku.php?id=harmony:modules http://wiki.ecmascript.org/doku.php?id=harmony:modules and more (http://wiki.ecmascript.org/doku.php?id=harmony:proposals http://wiki.ecmascript.org/doku.php?id=harmony:proposals).
  - dangayle 14y ago
    Javascript doesn't even need classes as a prototype-based (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototype-based_programming http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototype-based_programming) language. I get the feeling that because Javascript is in such high demand, a lot of "classicly trained" programmers have started taking it up and started b*tching about how things aren't they way they're used to. That's probably the same group of people who on this board complain about Python's indentation syntax, etc.
    - Evbn 14y ago
      Prototypes aren't classes and they aren't always what you want, and conventions can't always be optimized by the compiler as well as structured language elements.
the_mitsuhiko 14y ago
I agree strongly with that. It's easier to use, solves the deployment problem and does not even force the concept of objects onto a newcomer.
ufo 14y ago
The problem with Javascript is that you basically can only use it to interact with websites (thus forcing people to also learn HTML and CSS along with it). There is also the problem of it being a language full of warts and implementation incompatibilities and missing lots of features you would want from a modern language.
- Jare 14y ago
  BASIC had plenty such warts, incompatibilities and lack of 'modern' features. Javascript is still not as immediately available and direct to use as the BASICs of old were. As a beginner, to easily make anything useful and interesting (by today's standards) in Javascript, you need to run it in a browser as a saved file, wrap it in some html, and add a bunch of boilerplate (create a canvas, make stuff move, access the DOM).
- mwill 14y ago
  JavaScript w/Nodejs is pretty great. I'm pretty language agnostic, but I'll admit I've briefly fantasized about an ECMAScriptish language that shared all it's feature, down to the object model, weird hybrid half FP/OO and prototypical inheritance, etc, plus some of the propose features and other cool junk like clean macro support, operator overloading, etc, and squared up some of the crazier stuff like weird definitions of truthiness, and looser type coercion. Throw in a way to set up bindings, GUI toolkit or whatever, and a way to build distributable standalone binaries, and I'd use that as my go to language, esp to prototype and hack out ideas. It's a fun way to just dump ideas and a few changes would make it a great all-round language worth favouring.

Javascript is.

by olaf 14y ago

Javascript is.

Agree 100%. You don't have to install anything. It's on every machine with a modern web browser, even mobile devices. It's even got the "nastiness" factor down. :-) We're also starting to see things like Snap written in pure JavaScript/HTML5: http://snap.berkeley.edu/snapsource/snap.html http://snap.berkeley.edu/snapsource/snap.html

olaf 14y ago
Not to forget the rapid evolution of the language, ECMAScript 6 will get ... 1. classes http://wiki.ecmascript.org/doku.php?id=harmony:classes http://wiki.ecmascript.org/doku.php?id=harmony:classes 2. modules http://wiki.ecmascript.org/doku.php?id=harmony:modules http://wiki.ecmascript.org/doku.php?id=harmony:modules and more (http://wiki.ecmascript.org/doku.php?id=harmony:proposals http://wiki.ecmascript.org/doku.php?id=harmony:proposals).
- dangayle 14y ago
  Javascript doesn't even need classes as a prototype-based (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototype-based_programming http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototype-based_programming) language. I get the feeling that because Javascript is in such high demand, a lot of "classicly trained" programmers have started taking it up and started b*tching about how things aren't they way they're used to. That's probably the same group of people who on this board complain about Python's indentation syntax, etc.
  - Evbn 14y ago
    Prototypes aren't classes and they aren't always what you want, and conventions can't always be optimized by the compiler as well as structured language elements.

the_mitsuhiko 14y ago

I agree strongly with that. It's easier to use, solves the deployment problem and does not even force the concept of objects onto a newcomer.

ufo 14y ago

The problem with Javascript is that you basically can only use it to interact with websites (thus forcing people to also learn HTML and CSS along with it). There is also the problem of it being a language full of warts and implementation incompatibilities and missing lots of features you would want from a modern language.

Jare 14y ago
BASIC had plenty such warts, incompatibilities and lack of 'modern' features. Javascript is still not as immediately available and direct to use as the BASICs of old were. As a beginner, to easily make anything useful and interesting (by today's standards) in Javascript, you need to run it in a browser as a saved file, wrap it in some html, and add a bunch of boilerplate (create a canvas, make stuff move, access the DOM).
mwill 14y ago
JavaScript w/Nodejs is pretty great. I'm pretty language agnostic, but I'll admit I've briefly fantasized about an ECMAScriptish language that shared all it's feature, down to the object model, weird hybrid half FP/OO and prototypical inheritance, etc, plus some of the propose features and other cool junk like clean macro support, operator overloading, etc, and squared up some of the crazier stuff like weird definitions of truthiness, and looser type coercion. Throw in a way to set up bindings, GUI toolkit or whatever, and a way to build distributable standalone binaries, and I'd use that as my go to language, esp to prototype and hack out ideas. It's a fun way to just dump ideas and a few changes would make it a great all-round language worth favouring.