List of languages that compile to JS • Hacker News Board

Re: List of languages that compile to JS

#21

Post by jgfoot » Thu, Jan 06, 2011, 3:55 PM UTC

198d wrote: post #20

Am I the only one who just plain doesn't understand the value these tools provide? From my perspective, why not just _write_ javascript? Seems ridiculous. I mean, they're fun and all, but no one sets out to do a project of meaning or scale and chooses these tools, do they?

I enjoy using CoffeeScript on my hobby projects. If you write your server code in a language like Python or Ruby, CoffeeScript makes Javascript more familiar. It adds nice features like list comprehensions, and I prefer the way it handles classes and objects. But no, it isn't for everyone.

Re: List of languages that compile to JS

#22

Post by spicyj » Thu, Jan 06, 2011, 4:02 PM UTC

amadiver wrote: post #13

Any tools that work in the opposite direction? ( e.g., JS -> C )

You can use a JavaScript engine such as V8 to run JavaScript code anywhere, but I don't know of any native compilers.

Re: List of languages that compile to JS

#23

Post by msy » Thu, Jan 06, 2011, 4:07 PM UTC

sjs wrote: post #18

msy wrote: post #10

I note that doesn't read 'good JS' or 'fast JS'. You can put me in a tutu but I won't be a prima ballerina.

I'm not sure about all of them but CoffeeScript emits good, portable, fast JS.

Coffeescript I'm familiar with and yes, is very nice indeed. It's some of the others I'd be more concerned about.

Re: List of languages that compile to JS

#24

Post by windsurfer » Thu, Jan 06, 2011, 4:19 PM UTC

198d wrote: post #20

Am I the only one who just plain doesn't understand the value these tools provide? From my perspective, why not just _write_ javascript? Seems ridiculous. I mean, they're fun and all, but no one sets out to do a project of meaning or scale and chooses these tools, do they?

The same reason people don't just write in assembly (or more accuratley, C) to write a desktop application very often. Javascript is the assembly language of the web.

Re: List of languages that compile to JS

#25

Post by wahnfrieden » Thu, Jan 06, 2011, 4:29 PM UTC

198d wrote: post #20

Am I the only one who just plain doesn't understand the value these tools provide? From my perspective, why not just _write_ javascript? Seems ridiculous. I mean, they're fun and all, but no one sets out to do a project of meaning or scale and chooses these tools, do they?

Google Wave and AdWords were built on GWT, which is Java->JS. So yes, they do.

Re: List of languages that compile to JS

#26

Post by wahnfrieden » Thu, Jan 06, 2011, 4:31 PM UTC

po wrote: post #4

Added emscripten which to my untrained eyes seems like the place where a lot of gains can be made. You can gain a lot by removing the middleman but sometimes you can gain a lot by adding one.

Emscripten is the most exciting project IMO - it's basically a more portable NaCl. I wonder if Google will start using it if they're serious about NaCl.

Re: List of languages that compile to JS

#27

Post by wahnfrieden » Thu, Jan 06, 2011, 4:32 PM UTC

ghenne wrote: post #19

NS Basic/App Studio compiles Visual Basic style BASIC to JavaScript + HTML5. Also includes an IDE. Targets iOS and Android. ( http://www.nsbasic.com/app )

Wow, that's a blast from the past, from the Palm OS days. Interesting that they're still around.

Re: List of languages that compile to JS

#28

Post by ghenne » Thu, Jan 06, 2011, 4:42 PM UTC

wahnfrieden wrote: post #27

ghenne wrote: post #19

NS Basic/App Studio compiles Visual Basic style BASIC to JavaScript + HTML5. Also includes an IDE. Targets iOS and Android. ( http://www.nsbasic.com/app )

Wow, that's a blast from the past, from the Palm OS days. Interesting that they're still around.

NS Basic was actually around long before Palm OS, starting with the Newton. (!) We think /App Studio is our best yet.

Re: List of languages that compile to JS

#29

Post by gommm » Thu, Jan 06, 2011, 4:43 PM UTC

198d wrote: post #20

Am I the only one who just plain doesn't understand the value these tools provide? From my perspective, why not just _write_ javascript? Seems ridiculous. I mean, they're fun and all, but no one sets out to do a project of meaning or scale and chooses these tools, do they?

I used to think the same way as you do... I couldn't understand the point of using ruby or java (GWT) to generate javascript (and I didn't understand the popularity of rjs in rails). First, on the contrary to many, I actually like javascript and, second, I founnd that it's just didn't feel like a really good fit...

Now though, I use CoffeeScript but it's very different to the above. It was made with javascript in mind, it's more of a clean syntax for javascript, allowing you to code exactly like you would normally in javascript but in cleaner, neater way..

Re: List of languages that compile to JS

#30

Post by defrex » Thu, Jan 06, 2011, 4:48 PM UTC

windsurfer wrote: post #24

198d wrote: post #20

Am I the only one who just plain doesn't understand the value these tools provide? From my perspective, why not just _write_ javascript? Seems ridiculous. I mean, they're fun and all, but no one sets out to do a project of meaning or scale and chooses these tools, do they?

The same reason people don't just write in assembly (or more accuratley, C) to write a desktop application very often. Javascript is the assembly language of the web.

That analogy breaks down though. JavaScript is just as much of a high-level language as most of the things that are compiling to it. Most of the time the reason people don't just write in JavaScript is because they don't like it's _style_, rather then with C or assembly, where the goal is to work at a higher level to avoid writing boilerplate and managing things are are unnecessary.