I'd say javascript is the new Perl (I used to love writing perl way back). It is undoubtedly useful, but can be horrific to read. It is heavily used to get things done in a pragmatic way.

The difference I see is that it will not likely die as quickly and quietly due to how distributed the code is.

Now that you mention it, the resemblance is pretty clear. I also have to admit that I agree that we probably are stuck with it for the future. There are languages I think much more highly of that compile to WASM, and that's a technique that I plan to use and that I anticipate gaining traction. But there's just so much JS around.

I do love Perl and JS for the same reasons: You can write something and be sure it will keep working. It is not customary to introduce breaking changes.

...Do you write in lots of languages that add breaking changes without warning? I don't.

I have encountered it with many languages. There is usually a warning, but there is also a lack of consent on my part, and a lack of options to retain compatibility.

For example, with most Python-based projects I have tried, I have run into some kind of version incompatibility, and often have not been able to get them to run at all.

This is an experience I wanted to avoid for those who try my software.

> Python

Aha, there's your problem.

That's exactly what I was talking about, and why I chose Perl as the "top-level" language for my project over Python, despite Python being very popular.

That would certainly be one solution.