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The Great JavaScript Debate: Improve It Or Kill It

Posted by Soulskill on from the cast-your-votes-now dept.

snydeq writes "Recent announcements from Google and Intel appear to have JavaScript headed toward a crossroads, as Google seeks to replace the lingua franca of the client-side Web with Dart and Intel looks to extend it with River Trail. What seems clear, however, is that as 'developers continue to ask more and more of JavaScript, its limitations are thrown into sharp relief,' raising the question, 'Will the Web development community continue to work to make JavaScript a first-class development platform, despite its failings? Or will it take the "nuclear option" and abandon it for greener pastures? The answer seems to be a little of both.'"

3 of 482 comments (clear)

  1. JavaScript fulfills its mission pretty well by smagruder · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If someone wants to add to its mission, or write a client-side language with a different mission, go for it.

    But a lot of the web is running nicely with JavaScript, and pulling out the JavaScript rug from web developers and website owners is really not an option.

    Let's call for some pragmatism here, shall we?

    --
    Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
  2. Re:How about neither? by hjf · · Score: 5, Informative

    Because Google needs you to run everything in their cloud so the NSA,FBI,CIA, and even the DMV can get easy access to all your documents.

  3. Re:In my opinion... by aztracker1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What you are talking about isn't the responsibility of the language, but the underlying API provided by the browser. And yes, there is some movement towards exposing those hardware elements to the JS API. Though not formally part of the DOM... The language itself is in my opinion a very elegant functional prototype based language. Though recent movements are to avoid use of the prototype aspects of the language.

    It seriously bugs me when people confuse the DOM/JS API for a given platform and the language itself. One is not intrinsically tied to the other. JS has been a favorite language of mine for a very long time (since around 1996). It gets a bad rep. mainly because of the browsers' DOM implementations in the v4 browser war... Don't hate the player, hate the game.

    --
    Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info