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0 pointssubsection1h8y ago0 comments

> CoffeeScript which is a language I personally _loathe_. [...] it was so inaccessible

You know JavaScript, yet CoffeeScript is inaccessible? WTF. I had never written a line of Lisp in my life before using Emacs, but that didn't stop me from writing hundreds of lines of Emacs Lisp during the first weekend that I used Emacs.

What's up with the unwillingness (or inability?) that many web developers seem to have for using more than one or two programming languages?

0 comments

rubyn00bie8y ago

Why would I learn something which doesn't offer me any value? CoffeeScript is literally syntactical sugar, which I believe, adds levels of indirection to the code and makes it more difficult long-term to support, read, and develop. Not only that, but JavaScript's evolution has made nearly every reason to use it moot.

Also FWIW-- I've done vastly more native and server-side programming over the last... oh, seven years than "web." So... I don't think this is something with "web developers."

keymone8y ago

yeah, I could see myself saying the same but not about coffeescript. That thing just needs to go away, seriously.

Having to constantly keep a mental model of two languages when you write code outweighs any benefits from syntax sugar and supposed readability.

It was nice ten years ago when JavaScript was absolutely horrendous but not now.

oneweekwonder8y ago

> It was nice ten years ago when JavaScript was absolutely horrendous but not now.

ECMAScript 5 was released in December 2009, Coffeescript first appeared the same month with release 0.1.0.

What was absolutely horrendous about ECMAScript 5?

edit: Javascript 1.8 shipped with Firefox 3 in June 2008.

keymone8y ago

i don't even.. for people making these claims there's just no way to convey how horrific js development was until quite recently (it still is far worse than most popular languages out there tbh) other than inventing a time machine and sending you there, but then it's a kind of punishment i wouldn't want upon my worst enemy.

browser fragmentation rings any bells? were you actually doing js dev back then?

2 more replies

qubex8y ago

> that didn’t stop me from writing hundreds of lines of Emacs Lisp

Oh, you wrote an A.I.-enabled missile launch control system in your first weekend too? ;)

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointssubsection1h8y ago0 comments

> CoffeeScript which is a language I personally _loathe_. [...] it was so inaccessible

What's up with the unwillingness (or inability?) that many web developers seem to have for using more than one or two programming languages?

0 comments

rubyn00bie8y ago

Also FWIW-- I've done vastly more native and server-side programming over the last... oh, seven years than "web." So... I don't think this is something with "web developers."

keymone8y ago

yeah, I could see myself saying the same but not about coffeescript. That thing just needs to go away, seriously.

Having to constantly keep a mental model of two languages when you write code outweighs any benefits from syntax sugar and supposed readability.

It was nice ten years ago when JavaScript was absolutely horrendous but not now.

oneweekwonder8y ago

> It was nice ten years ago when JavaScript was absolutely horrendous but not now.

ECMAScript 5 was released in December 2009, Coffeescript first appeared the same month with release 0.1.0.

What was absolutely horrendous about ECMAScript 5?

edit: Javascript 1.8 shipped with Firefox 3 in June 2008.

keymone8y ago

browser fragmentation rings any bells? were you actually doing js dev back then?

2 more replies

qubex8y ago

> that didn’t stop me from writing hundreds of lines of Emacs Lisp

Oh, you wrote an A.I.-enabled missile launch control system in your first weekend too? ;)

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse