Netscape and Sun Announce JavaScript (1995)

Post by smnrchrds » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 9:32 PM UTC

drblast wrote: post #294

brundolf wrote: post #284

What stands out to me is how much more foresight they had than I'd thought about the ways JS would be used: > With JavaScript, an HTML page might contain an intelligent form that performs loan payment or currency exchange calculations right on the client in response to user input. A multimedia weather forecast applet written in Java can be scripted by JavaScript to display appropriate images and sounds based on the c…

The industry is cyclical and to be forward thinking all you have to do is describe what's already happened and assume it will happen again. ;-) The things being done with JavaScript today are not new, nor is the idea that a server and client would coordinate to run interactive apps. That fundamental concept has been reimplemented in many different ways until we've landed on the current rube goldbergian monstrosity th…

Post by vlunkr » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 9:34 PM UTC

calibas wrote: post #364

vlunkr wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There really isn't a solid line you can draw between a "script" and a "programming language" I think it's easier to draw the line if you have the requirements right. That's not the line that was being drawn. it was scripting vs compiled languages. It was very clear then which sides Java and Javascript fell on. There are some weird cases now like compiling scripts into different scripts, but in general it's pretty c…

The great "script vs programming language debate". The difference is clear to you because you have a clear definition in your mind. The problem is that the definition changes depending on who you talk to, which invites endless debate.

Post by ChrisSD » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 9:39 PM UTC

brundolf wrote: post #303

drblast wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The industry is cyclical and to be forward thinking all you have to do is describe what's already happened and assume it will happen again. ;-) The things being done with JavaScript today are not new, nor is the idea that a server and client would coordinate to run interactive apps. That fundamental concept has been reimplemented in many different ways until we've landed on the current rube goldbergian monstrosity th…

I'm not surprised that the architecture isn't new, I'm surprised that web apps were already being talked about this way using JS specifically. JS's early design flaws are often written off as, "well it was never intended to be a real programming language like it is today". But from reading this, that doesn't sound to be the case.

Post by abruzzi » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 9:49 PM UTC

colejohnson66 wrote: post #351

evan_ wrote: post #349

In the beginning JavaScript was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.

> widely regarded as a bad move. By who? You? Because there’s tens (hundreds) of thousands of programmers and thousands of companies working on JavaScript. Just because many here consider JavaScript bad doesn’t mean everyone does. JavaScript has many problems, but it’s not “widely regarded” as bad.

Post by meibo » Fri, Dec 04, 2020, 9:58 PM UTC

colejohnson66 wrote: post #355

mlyle wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, there's murky things like Python which make bytecode compiled forms behind the scene. But there's a lot of magic involved in transforming Java to class files, and then there's a lot of further magic in resolving, loading, and eventually executing classes.

PHP does the same. It’s compiled to a bytecode before execution. But I don’t think it’s cached anywhere like Python (but that may have changed in the decade since I’ve used it)