5 ms·
Brendan Eich (JS inventor, Mozilla CTO) on stage at dotJS in Paris, Dec 2nd
- sek 13y agoI would love to see some Dart discussion with Lars Bak.
- bolder88 13y agoWhy is he "inventor of..." and the others are just "creator of..." Personally, I think using "inventor" when related to writing software is a little over the top. Still, not as irritating as when people call Crockford "inventor of JSON" I guess...
- sylvinus 13y agoI actually used the same wording as his official bio: https://blog.mozilla.org/press/bios/brendan-eich/ https://blog.mozilla.org/press/bios/brendan-eich/ I do agree that "inventor" is much stronger than "creator" but in the case of something as huge as JavaScript itself, I think he deserves it :)
- seanmcdirmid 13y agoIt's just plain wrong to use "invent" that way in English. He designed JavaScript, he didn't "invent" it. Designing and inventing are two very different activities. You wouldn't invent a specific language, but maybe the concept of "programming language" itself or specific language features. Lovelace invented the program, Zuse invented he programming language, and someone invented classes (probably Scandinavian) and first-order functions (probably a mathematician).
- nimble 13y agoinvent: create or design (something that has not existed before); be the originator of. So invent and design are near synonyms. There are subtle differences, of course. For example, I don't think it would be right to accuse you of designing the distinction you're making here. ;)
- bolder88 13y agoDisagree. You wouldn't say "Wow you invented a lovely picture of a house" to your kid would you. They drew a picture. Just like a programmer writes a program.
- _greim_ 13y agoIncidentally, you also wouldn't say "you designed a lovely picture of a house." So the parent's point stands.
- seanmcdirmid 13y agoJust because create and design are not synonyms doesn't make invent and create synonyms. Invented can be used as a pretentious form of create I guess, but it just makes the subject look like a tool. Edison invented the light bulb is ok, there weren't any economically viable light bulbs before. Eich invented JavaScript just makes Eich look bad though, there were plenty of PLs existing before that Eich borrowed from in his design.
- nimble 13y agoI agree with you that 'designed' is the word he probably ought to use and that 'invented' is pretentious, ... but I don't think it's wrong.
- seanmcdirmid 13y agoIt is not black and white, just not the right shade of gray.
- riledhel 13y agoI lways enjoy the way he states that he "discovered" JSON. source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Trurfqh_6fQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Trurfqh_6fQ
- thejosh 13y agoWow. That is one packed conference with people who have created some powerful software.
- sylvinus 13y agoThanks, that is what we strive for :)
- tilsammans 13y agoAh yes, the guy who donated $1000 to Proposition 8. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3793012 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3793012
- egeozcan 13y agoI think this may be relevant for the people who may want to attend. Why the down-vote?
- aaronem 13y agoThose who are so foolish as to boycott a programming language, because their politics may not be entirely simpatico with those of its inventor, need no reminding; those not so foolish don't care.
- egeozcan 13y agoI love JavaScript but I care. Also, going as far as calling people fools show that you care more than you may think about what others think.
- aaronem 13y agoYou mistake 'foolish' for a value judgment. It is a statement of fact. Participation in this conference offers enormous benefit to any Javascript developer; to consider absenting oneself, because of a political disagreement with a keynote speaker, evinces that poor judgment which is the very soul of foolishness.