4 ms·
Most of the time, it's easy to ignore programming languages that you aren't familiar with. In day to day programming life, you're not going to be running into m
by jashkenas 13y ago
Most of the time, it's easy to ignore programming languages that you aren't familiar with. In day to day programming life, you're not going to be running into many examples of Eiffel, or Dylan, or D or E, in the wild. So you're not going to feel very strongly about them, either pro or con.
For better or for worse (I think for the better), CoffeeScript is fully interoperable with JavaScript. The runtime characteristics and the lowest-common-denominator ES3 support are such that you can use it just about anywhere you might want to use JS. That, and a modicum of success, means that JS programmers sometimes stumble across it in unexpected places, only after popping the hood. e.g. "I thought I was just using a simple library -- Eauggh! What is that stuff down there!" This makes it very hard to ignore...
As a JavaScript programmer, you're forced to ask yourself the question, "Why haven't I given CoffeeScript a real try yet?" Not all, but a large part of the dislike comes from folks rationalizing their response to that question to themselves.
tl;dr, CoffeeScript is almost perfectly situated to inspire fear and loathing in JavaScript programmers with closed minds.
- leokun 13y agoI frequently experiment with new programming languages (go, Rust, others) and I like Dart and have tried it. That's significant evidence that I'm not close minded. However CoffeeScript was at least for me the first of its kind, so maybe my negative perception has stuck with it unfairly. I do find it hard to read, but I'll tell you what I'll give it a try. :P
- lowboy 13y agoI found it a little awkward to read at first, but that went away in a short time. I suggest giving it a proper whirl. Most people who I've introduced to CS seem to really like it.
- joeblau 13y agoAh okay, that's a pretty interesting review. I was at an AirBnB Tech Talk and Isaac Schluetter (Head maintainer of Node.js) and he discussed his feelings on it. I've used it a few times and it's been fine, but I never felt compelled to learn it. [1] - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM-gUM9C5SA&feature=player_detailpage&list=PLECD54527EBCE4021#t=2775 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM-gUM9C5SA&feature=player_de...
- integraton 13y agoThere's nothing of substance in his response. When asked what's worse or more ambiguous about CoffeeScript, his answers are: 1) That people who don't know CoffeeScript have to use CoffeeScript when they encounter CoffeeScript. 2) He thinks require might have been implemented differently, though he thinks that maybe that might have been changed, but "I don't really use it so I don't really know."