There are many viable compile-to-js languages out there to pick from:

* clojurescript

* f# via fable

* c# via different means(even an MSIL compiler)

* Golang

* etc

I mean, clojurescript and F# are bomber if you want functional. Typescript may give the best interop with existing packages, but I've read good things about F#'s .d.ts file support for creating type providers. In any case, if the lang you pick creates a bit of extra work that's probably small beans compared to the work required to get all of what parent described with completely separate languages and platforms.

Adding Reason(which is Ocaml with bucklescript backend) and Purescript to the list.

Adding this[0] list of languages that compile to JavaScript to the list. There seem so many that no matter your taste in syntactical sugar there should be something for you.

[0] https://github.com/jashkenas/coffeescript/wiki/list-of-langu...

Would like to clarify that it's not about "syntactical sugar" more like different semantics and/or safety(they treat js as machine code), hardly anyone would claim they are using these languages because of js syntax.

f# is the future

As clearly evidenced by how hard MS has been working to bring C# up to par these last few years :)

Naturally there are limits to how well you can retrofit something into a language compared to having that feature there from the start...

And many developers loathe C++. Why should I have to use such a low level and antiquated language for developing a GUI?

Nowadays you don't even have to use JS/TS, there are many languages that target JS and have decent bindings to its ecosystem, such as Scala, Purescript, Clojure. This doesn't seem to be the case with Qt which lacks decent bindings to languages other than Python.

It is all a matter of actually knowing how to write proper C++, or just using a C++ compiler to compile code that looks like C.

> It is all a matter of actually knowing how to write proper C++, or just using a C++ compiler to compile code that looks like C.

You might wanna read that back to yourself. Now replace it with any language you hate, and then tell me how that statement makes any form of argument at all (it doesn't...).

"It is all a matter of actually knowing how to write proper JavaScript, or just using TypeScript to compile code that looks like JavaScript."

Sure, you can hate a programming language. It changes absolutely nothing, except your potential revenue streams.

It's like saying "I loathe Linux!!" and knowing nothing about it; sure, but in this industry, you're going to have a tough time :)

To be fair, JavaScript hardly deserves being compared to Linux. People don't loathe JavaScript for no reason. The language itself is pretty rough around the edges.

Not just the edges!

I not a fan of javascript either, although I write js almost evey day and use Atom mainly because I could not find a better open source desktop editor that looks and works like Sublime Text. If anyone cares to write one in C++, D, Rust or Go, I'll happily use it.