JavaScript Is Eating The World (dev.to)

An anonymous reader shares a report: In case you haven't heard the news, JavaScript and NodeJS are single handedly eating the world of software. NodeJS is an Open Source server-side JavaScript environment based on the V8 JS rendering engine found in Google Chrome. Once only thought of as a "hipster" framework, NodeJS is fastly becoming one of the most commonly used languages in building web applications and is beginning to find its way into the Enterprise. Netflix, Microsoft, PayPal, Uber, and IBM have adopted the popular "hipster" server-side JavaScript engine for use inside high traffic, high profile production projects. Java still powers the backend of Netflix, but all the stuff that the user sees comes from Node. In addition to Node, Netflix is also using ReactJS in their stack. PayPal too is moving away from Java and onto JavaScript and NodeJS for use in their web application platform. Uber has built its massive driver / rider matching system on Node.js Distributed Web Architecture. IBM has also embraced NodeJS as well. Even Microsoft has embraced NodeJS, offering direct integrations into their Azure Platform, releasing a wealth of tutorials targeted at Node and they have even announced plans to fork the project and build their own version of Node powered by their Edge Javascript engine instead of Chrome's V8.

Comments

JavaScript should replace C

[Anonymous Coward]

JavaScript has greatly improved the internet. Unlike true hipster languages like Rust, it has stood the test of time and is widely supported. Security has greatly improved over the years. We should consider replacing much of the C code in existence with JavaScript to improve security and reliability.

Re:JavaScript should replace C

[ShanghaiBill]

WTF does Rust have to do with Javascript?

Everything, because people are using JavaScript in place of Rust and C++. When my wife writes an app, she does 1% in C, just enough to pop up a WebView, and then does the other 99% in embedded JavaScript. This makes it 10 times slower, and 100 times harder to debug. Now she wants me to switch the backend to Node.js. She has even started teaching our kids to write non-web code in JavaScript, since "That is what Khan Academy uses!" (which is true).

The only good thing about the JavaScript takeover is that we no longer have to worry about Judgement Day. If the T-1000 is running JavaScript it will be too slow and buggy to harm anyone.

Re:JavaScript should replace C

[ShanghaiBill]

I've been programming in javascript for 18 years and it's not nearly as slow or buggy as you think it is.

There are plenty of problems with JavaScript. Jshint can catch a lot of them, and Closure can catch even more, but those tools require a lot of self-discipline, and they still don't fix all the problems. Of course my wife refuses to use either.

But I wasn't talking about debugging JavaScript in a browser, which is bad enough, but debugging embedded JavaScript inside a WebView where there is no console and no debugger. Many of the problems are "Heisenbugs" that only occur in the WebView, but disappear when the same code is run in a browser (which has a console and debugger).

Then it gets even worse when she starts using one bloated framework on top of another. Many of them rely on tags in the HTML so I can't even see the problem by looking at just the JavaScript. So then she tells me if that I am sleeping on the couch until the bug is fixed ... ARRRRGGGGGHHH!!!

Lesson learned: Do a thorough code review before you marry someone. A pair programming session to test development style compatibility is also advisable.

Homophobia!

[mi]

Incase you haven't heard the news, JavaScript and NodeJS are single handedly eating the world of software.

Creator of JavaScript is a homophobe, who opposed gay marriage. It is immoral to use it.

Similarly, because the US Constituion and the Pythagoras' Theorem were thought up by slave-owners, it is immoral (and should be illegal!) to use them too!