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No alternatives? Coffeescript is always an alternative to js: http://jashkenas.github.com/coffee-script/
Coffeescript "compiles" to JS--so it's not an alternative to using Javascript; just an alternative syntax for writing javascript.
There are other alternatives as well[1], such as:
- LLVM languages: http://syntensity.blogspot.com/2011/04/emscripten-10.html
- HotRuby: http://hotruby.yukoba.jp/
- Smalltalk: http://clamato.net/
- Haxe: http://haxe.org/
- Mascara: http://www.mascaraengine.com/
And so on. Coffeescript is just closer to javascript than most alternatives. But it is a different language, and a nicer one in my humble opinion.
[1] https://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/wiki/List-of-lang...