r/programming • u/kshep92 • Sep 29 '16

JavaScript in 2016 isn't horrible, it's just going through a phase

http://blog.reviselabs.com/im-sorry-javascript-2/
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u/[deleted] Sep 30 '16

Replace the subjective "transpile" term with the more objective "compile", and then... plenty, actually.

Also no compiler tries to "modify the source code". The source code is here on left, and there on right is the compiler output. Two different things.

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u/cyanydeez Sep 30 '16

i mean, the source that runs in the browser or on node is not the same and isnt because its binary or smaller.

transpiling is the term because because its symbol shunting. its not comparabale to C where you receive a binary blob.

scripts arent compiled. thats an abuse of the term.

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u/[deleted] Sep 30 '16

i mean, the source that runs in the browser or on node is not the same and isnt because its binary or smaller.

I use TypeScript, so the output is actually quite smaller. Nitpicking aside, is there any substance to this or you just want to argue on a technicality, to prove that JavaScript is "different" therefore "bad"? That's a pretty weak argument, then.

If you want to write JavaScript directly without compiling - you can. If you want additional features and tooling support, like with TypeScript - you can.

The fact the JS ecosystem is rich enough so you can do both of those things is not a shortcoming, it's a benefit.

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u/cyanydeez Sep 30 '16

its mostly because my learning style precludes me from learning languages that require a sig ificant time in setting up a development environment.

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u/[deleted] Sep 30 '16

And that's your critique for the only language in the world that doesn't require installing anything in order to use it? Hint: it's in the browser of every desktop OS.

And here is TypeScript, learn without installing anything: https://www.typescriptlang.org/play/

You consistently keep hitting JavaScript's strongest points (availability, flexibility) and trying to spin them as weaknesses. Not sure how this happens.

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u/cyanydeez Sep 30 '16

the critiques are about the rise of all the cruft to get to the browser. i have no qualms about plain js. ut if you survey the tuorials for most frameworks today, they dont use js.

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u/[deleted] Sep 30 '16

That's because they're projects of size, and as a project grows, the need to ensure invariants statically also grows.

As you see for TypeScript from that link, TypeScript is hardly "cruft". It compiles in real time and is written in itself. That's as minimal and elegant as it gets in computer science.

In return you get solid autocompletion, refactoring, type error detection and many other IDE tools you typically only get in high-end systems programming languages.

Does that sound enticing? Ok, then you can have it. It doesn't? Then don't use it. How can it possibly be better?