
JavaScript isn't ever going away, is it? - resmote
Will JavaScript ever be removed from programming, ever? Is there any hope for this at all?
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combatentropy
Why do people hate JavaScript?

Is it because you're mixing it up with the DOM, especially the DOM of Internet
Explorer of yesteryear? If so, scripting IE 6's DOM with Python would have
been just as perilous.

Is it because you're mixing it up with Node.js, and its asynchronous
complexity? If so, JavaScript doesn't have to work that way. And other
languages could have been used the same way. Say, Node.py or Node.rb.
Conversely, JavaScript could be framed in a normal, FastCGI apparatus, where
everything runs more or less straightforwardly.

Is it because you're mixing it up with the messiness of NPM? See above.

Is it because JavaScript is dynamically typed, or because it has some other
characteristic that seems less serious than languages like C, Java, or Go? If
so, why not the same hatred for Python, Ruby, Perl, and Lua?

I myself like JavaScript's syntax more than all of the other scripting
languages. I think the syntax for object literals and array literals is
pleasantly terse. So is the dot notation for attributes. Combine that with how
functions are first class, and you can chain them with dots instead of nesting
them in parentheses. I like the new arrow syntax for functions, making the
code even simpler.

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hacknat
JavaScript was the first language that I learned, and I really got to know it.
I could tell you the ins and outs of prototypal inheritance, how function
declarations are hoisted, but expressions are not, how the only scope creator
is a function, variable declarations are hoisted, etc.

I don't hate JavaScript, but I do dislike it. After advancing in my career and
becoming a back end engineer I strongly prefer the type-safety of strongly
typed, typically compiled, languages.

I've worked in large dynamically typed code bases and I've worked in large
strongly typed code bases. I have loathed every refactor I have had to do in
dynamically typed languages. I just did a big one for a Python code base and I
caught more issues and dependencies using grep and emacs than using the IDE
and PyCharm. I have about 25 sizeable unit tests for this code base just to
check flow control and dumb things like typos. I wouldn't need these unit
tests in a compiled language.

JavaScript is the most popular language in the world. It's going to get a lot
of hate and love. You contend that it gets disproportionate hate compared to
Python and Ruby, but I disagree. I dislike all dynamically typed languages
(save bash), and I think many people feel the same way. I honestly fail to see
what they buy me.

If it's short and sweet I'll do it in bash, if it's any longer than what bash
can handle I'll write the few extra lines of code in Go, for its safety and
performance.

If I have to write browser code, I sigh and get on with my life.

~~~
twunde
There are several languages that compile to javascript that are worth checking
out: Dart or Typescript would be worth looking into (Coffeescript is probably
the most famous example, but doesn't sound like what you're looking for)

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BjoernKW
"Ever" is a long time but if by that you mean "in our lifetime" then - barring
the singularity and everyone technically living forever - no, JavaScript
probably won't ever go away.

JavaScript, especially in its most recent iterations, is a decent language
with useful properties (non-blocking; can be used purely functionally and in
an object-oriented or procedural manner) and a fast runtime. It's especially
suitable to the task it's mostly used for: Web app development.

I can hardly think of any programming language that'd be more appropriate in
that context right now.

The only real downside is that JavaScript isn't a typed language and there are
options like TypeScript that while perhaps not completely solving that
particular problem at least alleviate it to a large extent. Who knows? Maybe,
the next version of JavaScript will provide a type system similar to
TypeScript, which given the latter's adoption and support by several large
companies isn't entirely unlikely.

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splintercell
JavaScript isn't going anywhere that soon. However, I must ask you, if you
realize that it isn't going anywhere, couldn't you spend your energy and
resources in one of the better transpiled languages like PureScript, Elm, or
Scala.js (I'm intentionally not including supersets of JS).

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ajeet_dhaliwal
It wasn't love at first site (pun intended).

Over a span of about 12 years it's gone from being my most hated language to
my most loved. So I hope it sticks around.

Won't go into details but JSLint, Crockford, Node, ES 5, 6 all really helped.

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_RPM
As long as there is a JavaScript runtime available it's not going to go
extinct. However, it may go obsolete. The term "removed" needs to be defined
here.

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Piskvorrr
Well, consider COBOL. Once the be-all-end-all of programming languages; now
mostly forgotten, but still lurks out there: in production, yet largely out of
sight.

~~~
dragonwriter
> Well, consider COBOL. Once the be-all-end-all of programming languages

No, it was once dominant in a particular niche -- it was enterprise's Java
long before Java was -- but it was never the "be-all-end-all" of programming
languages.

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sigjuice
Do you know of any mainstream language that has been "removed"?

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yen223
What's Delphi's market share like?

~~~
sigjuice
Not sure, but far from being "removed". According to Wikipedia

 _Stable release Delphi 10.1 Berlin / April 20, 2016; 4 months ago_

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EJTH
You can always use a transpiler if you don't want to use javascript!

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VOYD
Not until something better (easy learning curve) takes its place.

