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If the idea is to simplify with modules, I think they miss the point. The 'old' server side libraries, flask, ror, even .net MVC look elegant and simple in comparison.
When will this stupidity end?
Currently, there is only support for manual memory management but there are plans to expand with GC.
There is certainly a horizon for expansion. We are already seeing this with languages that compile to JS. Perhaps WebAsm will provide the substrate for better engineered languages and code.
JS isn't that bad, the ecosystem big enough to avoid the small libs written by n00bs and easy to acces s thanks to npm. Npm isn't perfect, but better than what most languages have.
Many people already know JS and it's pretty much the easiest language to get started with, you just need a browser and an editor.
Most people don't use the best solution for a problem because often nobody knows what this would be, so they use what they know and make things work.
English is certainly not the best language for the world, still most people speak it and make things work.
How can such a phenomenon even exist, without programmers falling over themselves to create a development ecosystem with compilers and multiple language paradigms? The best answer I can come up with is that the history of web development is rooted in a culture that cares only about product design, user experience, and making a million dollars fast. It took a long time for systems programmers to get interested enough to provide the perspective of, well, a systems programmer.
It could be argued that not rocking the boat, and just accepting JS as the standard unconditionally, helped the web succeed. I don't agree with that. I don't see how having a good execution environment in the browser in 2004 could possibly have hurt the web.
If you stop thinking like a front-end web dev, and take a step back from the whole thing, the status quo is truly insane and embarrassing. A many-billion dollar, world changing industry has been exclusively constrained to one dynamically-typed, weird language cooked up by one guy in a hurry, over 20 years ago. How can such a phenomenon even exist, without programmers falling over themselves to create a development ec…
It's kind of a messy miracle that that didn't happen and we got to where we are today. Now, with established standards support WebAssembly might be the next step you're looking for.
The only reason that people are getting "javascript fatigue" and complaining that JS is being used for everything is because so many people are working so hard to improve and innovate the language/ecosystem... and so many people are actually finding applicable benefit to that work.
I've built several native iOS apps in Ruby with RubyMotion - no one was upset about Ruby fatigue or that Ruby is being used in a new context... Because why would they? There's nothing to complain about! It's just a product created by people working hard to provide value in a new way.
And that's what people are doing in the JS world too. There's just way more of them and way more people using and applying that work, so it starts to feel overwhelming. But that is not the fault of the language or the community.
No one is forcing anyone to use any language or framework. No one is forcing anyone to use any particular software. Pick the ones best for your needs — why pull down all the people working so hard on JS along the way?