https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15090278

TL;DR: Writing JavaScript for the browser won't really help you write good JavaScript for the server.

As far as libraries are concerned, it was never my experience that the landscape changed drastically from one to the other. Most of the libraries I look at/use for the front-end today advertise themselves as both for Node and for the browser.

I'm sorry, is this a dig at Ryan Dahl, or of JavaScript/Node developers in general? I'm having trouble understanding what point you're addressing with this comment.

As for evaluating languages for their "best purpose", I think that's a very complex discussion that doesn't necessarily yield a best (or cost effective/productive) result. And certainly, as we've seen routinely evidenced, using a different language on the server is no panacea.

To be clear: I said js is misplaced on the 'server' side and is a wart in general when applied in that context. Any educated comment on these sentiments?

Exactly what I asked.

> Any educated comment on these sentiments?

Without clarity on the sentiments themselves there's not a lot to elaborate on without simply fumbling in the dark. If the concern, though, is that, in Node, you live and die by an asynchronous event loop, I'd say that's not a small footgun. I don't think that's in dispute. I'd also say that the presence of footguns doesn't, by itself, disqualify a language from being used in any particular context.

As for JavaScript being a wart, I don't really agree with that sentiment. I think that's attributable to some pretty strong and level-headed language evolution making what was once a very blunt scripting instrument into something somewhat reasonably suited to larger-scale applications.

It is the poster child for the "If the only tool you have is a hammer..." maxim.

Its appeal derives almost completely from its presence in probably every major browser, where it was placed for DOM manipulation and was stressed way past its design envelope over time, leading to the increasingly dystopian web development landscape we progressively inhabit.

If it is ultimately victorious, it will be in spite of its design, not because of it. Those of us who are old enough to remember will cringe at the pain we endured over the years because of the widely used Intel 808x architecture as it evolved (small/medium/large/huge memory models, and segment registers, anyone?), not because it had the greatest merit, but because of its market penetration.

History repeats itself.

All things considered, a craftsman simply uses a tool to do a job. Often it doesn't involve much fanfare. I wouldn't say that modern JavaScript is quite as blunt an instrument as a hammer, but hey, if you're good with a hammer...