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> So much time trying to solve programs which were fixed in other languages ages ago and inadequately so, simply because it is 1 an interpreter, 2 it is the onl

> So much time trying to solve programs which were fixed in other languages ages ago and inadequately so, simply because it is 1 an interpreter, 2 it is the only one running in the browser (aka THE universal platform) This is not a trivial benefit to which further attention can be dismissed as "slavish fanboyism". The biggest strength of JavaScript, by far, is its ubiquity. Without discussing whether it was or was not a waste of time to build such a wide variety of JavaScript-programmable platforms in the first place, this is the reality. With it, you can: - Produce "binaries" that are universally executable via the browser platform - Perform a wide variety of system-software-level functions, such as I/O - Perform hardware level operations - Render 3D graphics - Serve as a compilation target for other languages In what other language can you write a program which will run on such a combinatorial explosion of operating systems, hardware platforms and CPU architectures, let alone with reasonable performance? I will agree that the language itself is inelegant, that there are many difficulties with using it in the browser, that reimplementing existing technology atop JavaScript can result in poor performance, etc. But to call it "madness" that people deploy to such a universal platform is silly. The gains are self-sustaining, and at the core (the browser) there is no other choice.

vfclists 13y ago
> In what other language can you write a program which will run on such a combinatorial explosion of operating systems, hardware platforms and CPU architectures, let alone with reasonable performance? By that do you mean Android, iOS and Windows? This what I call acquiescing. The simple fact is that coding in Javascript gives the Big Three access to your raw code, or makes it easier to deobfuscate it. Why have Microsoft brought out TypeScript and Google Dart, if Javascript is so great? Because it is not. Who are the standards bodies besides these 3? Who controls and directs the W3C policies. Extending Javascript to make it easier to work with or supplanting it with a new backwards compatible version shouldn't be a big deal, but of course these 3 will always disagree to disagree so long as it gives them an advantage over mass of developers out there an advantage and forces them through their marketplaces.

vfclists 13y ago

> In what other language can you write a program which will run on such a combinatorial explosion of operating systems, hardware platforms and CPU architectures, let alone with reasonable performance? By that do you mean Android, iOS and Windows? This what I call acquiescing. The simple fact is that coding in Javascript gives the Big Three access to your raw code, or makes it easier to deobfuscate it. Why have Microsoft brought out TypeScript and Google Dart, if Javascript is so great? Because it is not. Who are the standards bodies besides these 3? Who controls and directs the W3C policies. Extending Javascript to make it easier to work with or supplanting it with a new backwards compatible version shouldn't be a big deal, but of course these 3 will always disagree to disagree so long as it gives them an advantage over mass of developers out there an advantage and forces them through their marketplaces.