Ask HN: Any alternative to JavaScript in sight?

#1

Post by digamber_kamat » Sat, Jun 18, 2011, 4:08 PM UTC

I see people are writing mp3 decoders in JavaScript and what not. Javascript is probably lingua de franca of web (quoted Jeff Atwood). And in last 2 years we have used JS in ways like never before.

Does anyone feel that sooner or later JS will probably turn out to be not-so-suitable for stuff we want to do ?

Are there any attempts being made to provide an reliable alternative or can JS itself evolve ?

Re: Ask HN: Any alternative to JavaScript in sight?

#2

Post by bauchidgw » Sat, Jun 18, 2011, 4:18 PM UTC

coffeescript - it's just javascript, but with a touch of awesomeness.

Re: Ask HN: Any alternative to JavaScript in sight?

#3

Post by rw » Sat, Jun 18, 2011, 4:24 PM UTC

What, specifically, would you like to see changed?

It is evolving: Coffeescript, node, npm, and V8 are four examples. It can feel good to code in JS, just like it can in Python or Ruby (or Scheme :-) ).

Re: Ask HN: Any alternative to JavaScript in sight?

#4

Post by reedlaw » Sat, Jun 18, 2011, 4:26 PM UTC

Why is JS not "reliable"? Any language can be a JS alternative. Do you mean you want an alternative language that runs natively in browsers?

Re: Ask HN: Any alternative to JavaScript in sight?

#5

Post by arethuza » Sat, Jun 18, 2011, 4:37 PM UTC

reedlaw wrote: post #4

Why is JS not "reliable"? Any language can be a JS alternative. Do you mean you want an alternative language that runs natively in browsers?

"alternative language that runs natively in browsers"

That's already been done: http://code.google.com/chrome/nativeclient/

Re: Ask HN: Any alternative to JavaScript in sight?

#6

Post by knowtheory » Sat, Jun 18, 2011, 4:37 PM UTC

Well there's always been interesting talk about getting LLVM to run in browsers, which would be wicked cool, and open up a lot of different programming languages.

That said, JavaScript really is an awesome language to use, if you can get over the syntax. So i really can't see how JS would be unsuitable for future use, especially in light of the changes that have happened and continue to come down the pipeline in newer versions of JS.

Coffeescript is a fantastic view of the power and capabilities of JavaScript packaged in a way that is considerably more elegant to look at and use on a daily basis. Check out the talk that Brendan Eich and Jeremy Ashkenas did at JSConf (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2662846 ).

Javascript really is going to be a development powerhouse for the foreseeable future. And i'm actually happy about that.

Re: Ask HN: Any alternative to JavaScript in sight?

#7

Post by zrl » Sat, Jun 18, 2011, 4:39 PM UTC

Some effort is being made to bring other languages to the web. Emscripten is a backend for LLVM to produce javascript code (should work with any LLVM frontend). NACL (native client) is a project by google to allow code to be compile for a more secure subset of x86 and to run on a browser safely. I'm not sure on the stability or use of either. GWT (google web toolkit) is a project that compiles java to javascript. This one should be fairly stable and seems to be well supported.

Re: Ask HN: Any alternative to JavaScript in sight?

#8

Post by jinushaun » Sat, Jun 18, 2011, 4:42 PM UTC

While server-side JS such as Node.js might be a fad, client-side JS is firmly entrenched. Given the speed at which the browser developers and standards groups agree on implementing new standards (read: slow), client-side Javascript is here to stay.

However, CoffeeScript provides an interesting look into the future of Javascript. I also see a similar thing happening with CSS and Less, where people are no longer waiting for browsers to support features developers want.

And lastly, I personally really enjoy coding in Javascript. The ugliest part about it is the DOM and Jquery successfully hides that. I think part of the reason Node.js is so popular because of the strength and programmer joy of the language.

Re: Ask HN: Any alternative to JavaScript in sight?

#9

Post by davidw » Sat, Jun 18, 2011, 4:44 PM UTC

Nitpick: "Lingua franca", not "lingua de franca"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_franca

Also: no, probably not. We're still dealing with browsers that are 10 years old, so even if you were to release a browser, with, say, Tcl as the default language, it'd be years before it was something you could count on being everywhere.

See: positive network externalities, and "lock in".

Re: Ask HN: Any alternative to JavaScript in sight?

#10

Post by phillmv » Sat, Jun 18, 2011, 4:50 PM UTC

No? It's only important because everyone has a javascript interpreter. The point will become moot as Javascript interpreters get good enough to allow us to run with languages that compile down to Javascript and enable more optimizations like typed arrays.