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> when you create a tool for the masses, the individual preferences should be the last in line Well Javascript is Javascript because of some guy personal prefe
by pmelendez 11y ago
> when you create a tool for the masses, the individual preferences should be the last in line
Well Javascript is Javascript because of some guy personal prefences at Netscape. The same is true for C# and Java in their respective companies, and they didn't start as popular languages either.
- toyg 11y agoJavascript is literally the poster child for "accidental and completely illogical success". It's the only mainstream language that did not have to compete with anything else because of accidents of history.
- rprospero 11y agoTechnically, it did have to compete with VBScript, back when IE had browser dominance and VBScript support.
- toyg 11y agoBut Netscape never had support for vbscript, so until they died Javascript/JScript was the only choice. By the time IE reached dominance, the industry had already standardized on JS.
- DennisP 11y agoAnd that guy wanted to just use Scheme, but got overruled by management.
- TeMPOraL 11y agoJavaScript was supposed to be Scheme not once but twice, and the reason we use it instead of a Lisp in the browser is the insane competition with Microsoft. Source: interviews in Coders at Work.