Re:JavaScript: The Modern Parts
by james_s_tayler on Saturday August 24, 2019 @10:04AM
(#20787180)
I feel more sold on the ubiquity of JavaScript more than the value of it. I feel sold on the value of TypeScript.
The web (or specifically HTML) was originally intended to support multiple scripting languages (which is why the <script> tag had a type attribute, which is now deprecated in HTML5.) Unfortunately, things didn't work out that way.
I'm hoping that when WASM matures a bit more, and becomes as universally supported in browsers as a javascript runtime, JS just becomes the default language supported by it, not the only one possible. Maybe one day it'll be common to see Typescript run directly in the browser, who knows?
>but everyone is sold on the value of JavaScript.
Not everyone[0].
"Because JavaScript is the language of the web browser, and because the web browser has become the dominant application delivery system, and because JavaScript isn't too bad, JavaScript has become the World's Most Popular Programming Language. Its popularity is growing. It is now being embedded in other applications and contexts. JavaScript has become important. It is better to be lucky than smart."
TypeScript is a very smart language, but then, so are Dart, CoffeeScript, ClojureScript. I suspect that if code durability is what matters to you, JS (and the ES evolutions thereof) will have the real staying power. Plus, not everyone is sold on the value of static types, but everyone is sold on the value of JavaScript.