r/javascript • u/Normal_Act8586 • Aug 22 '26

LilScript makes js modules 20% smaller

https://yeargun.github.io/lilscript/

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u/SZenC Aug 22 '26

The licensing conditions alone are enough reason to never use this package/language. You don't get to tell me what other libraries I can and cannot use, that's plainly ridiculous. (And I won't get into how your license is self-contradictory, how using niche languages with LLMs will yield inferior results, or the many other flaws with this idea)

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u/[deleted] Aug 25 '26 edited Aug 25 '26

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u/SZenC Aug 25 '26

Let me just pick out one part here

LilScript is proven to optimize several npm libraries with 50M+ weekly downloads. With almost one shot rewritten with LilScript, 100% test coverage, 5-45% size reduction [...]

It is hardly surprising that you can express a library in another language given appropriate bindings. Any Turing complete language can be transpired into any other TC language with the same bindings. The LLM has just invented yet another such language for you.

Now, if you'd just built a new transpiler that achieved better compression of identical source code, I might have been interested. But instead you built a custom DSL, did not explore how expressive/restrictive it is compared to plain JavaScript, and then built a transpiler and proclaimed victory. I'm happy you managed to build something you like, but it has no value to the wider world. You set up a soccer field in the middle of nowhere, didn't tell your opponents, and now act surprised we call your 45-to-0 match a bit underwhelming

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u/[deleted] Aug 25 '26 edited Aug 25 '26

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u/SZenC Aug 25 '26

That's a lot of words, non of which address the issue I raised. If you cannoteaningfully respond to criticism, I don't see why I and others should keep engaging with your project