See: http://blog.codinghorror.com/the-principle-of-least-power/

"Atwood's Law: any application that can be written in JavaScript, will eventually be written in JavaScript."

It's kind of a joke thing.

Exactly! Also, many JS devs are clueless about CS101 basic things, it's a way to maybe make them a bit interested.

From the wiki (https://github.com/felipernb/algorithms.js/wiki):

  The intention is to blend academic concepts with the
  JavaScript bits of insanity, applying Atwood's Law to CS101.

While I may not be clueless, post like this do make me more interested.

What percentage would you say are clueless about CS101 basic things?

I would estimate 75% of Web developers are "clueless" about algorithms and data structures (although that's a fairly strong word).

Do you include in your estimate those who may currently be JS developers not by choice but due to the vogue of web apps?

This seems high...I just went through a bunch of front end web developer interviews and nearly everyone I was asked some algorithm or data structure question. Maybe it's just NYC or maybe it's where I was applying.

It's likely an artifact of the jobs you're applying for but also consider that they're might be asking those questions now because in the past there were too many applicants who weren't qualified. It's only been fairly recently that front-end development has been taken more seriously as an engineering discipline.

I get the feeling these days most JS developers at least professional ones aren't totally clueless about algorithms and data structures.

Its sounds correct.

That maybe used to be true, but these days that's absolute incorrect. A lot of non-Web developers are becoming "web developers", because such a large percentage of new software is written for the Web.

I think it's become some sort of elaborate joke.