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The abundance of JavaScript libraries

joonaspajunen.com

1–10 of 49 posts

Re: The abundance of JavaScript libraries

#2
Probably a controversial opinion to post here (not in that I think it is unique, but rather that I think there will be a divide in people who agree strongly and those who disagree strongly), but I view the JavaScript framework/library situation as a damning indictment of how terrible the language is. A constant churn of attempts to build a solid foundation upon a bed of leaky sand, each ultimately failing because no matter how well they were engineered you can't get past the whole sand problem... and maybe the whole sand problem will solve itself by other means, but only at a very geological rate due to all of the committee politics surrounding browsers these days.

IOW, JavaScript is going to be great next year. Just like it was going to have been each year for the past 10 years or so.

Re: The abundance of JavaScript libraries

#3
I still don't understand these "too many frameworks" articles. Is there some power out there that I don't know about that is forcing devs to use the latest framework?

We're still allowed to use what we want, no matter how new or old it is, right?

Re: The abundance of JavaScript libraries

#4
post #3

I still don't understand these "too many frameworks" articles. Is there some power out there that I don't know about that is forcing devs to use the latest framework? We're still allowed to use what we want, no matter how new or old it is, right?

"Is there some power out there that I don't know about that is forcing devs to use the latest framework?"

Yes, It's called the Internet. People read articles about how X is the best. thing. evar. And this is perpetuated through many blog posts and, well, a lot of developers actually believe it.

Re: The abundance of JavaScript libraries

#5
JavaScript libraries are a bit like office politics for front-end web developers -- basically something that feels like work and "advances your career", while in truth it's just a way to avoid doing the real work with actual customers.

Re: The abundance of JavaScript libraries

#6

Probably a controversial opinion to post here (not in that I think it is unique, but rather that I think there will be a divide in people who agree strongly and those who disagree strongly), but I view the JavaScript framework/library situation as a damning indictment of how terrible the language is. A constant churn of attempts to build a solid foundation upon a bed of leaky sand, each ultimately failing because no…

Completely agree, and I say this having written mostly JavaScript professionally for the last several years. It's sad to think of the millions of engineer-hours spent trying to make JS usable for today's applications.

IOW, JavaScript is going to be great next year. Just like it was going to have been each year for the past 10 years or so.

ES6 might actually be ok, in the sense of "about as good as Python 2.3".

Re: The abundance of JavaScript libraries

#7

Probably a controversial opinion to post here (not in that I think it is unique, but rather that I think there will be a divide in people who agree strongly and those who disagree strongly), but I view the JavaScript framework/library situation as a damning indictment of how terrible the language is. A constant churn of attempts to build a solid foundation upon a bed of leaky sand, each ultimately failing because no…

Well said. In many ways picking a direction with JS is as bad as choosing an ORM... big upfront costs, a brief honeymoon, followed by eventual remorse, and finally more costs to transition to the next thing. Sometimes the smartest move is to avoid playing the game.

Re: The abundance of JavaScript libraries

#8
post #3

I still don't understand these "too many frameworks" articles. Is there some power out there that I don't know about that is forcing devs to use the latest framework? We're still allowed to use what we want, no matter how new or old it is, right?

>Is there some power out there that I don't know about that is forcing devs to use the latest framework?

Yes. Not all forcing is of the "gun pointed at you" kind.

There's also: peer pressure, fads, media coverage, changing demands from employers, etc.

Re: The abundance of JavaScript libraries

#9

Probably a controversial opinion to post here (not in that I think it is unique, but rather that I think there will be a divide in people who agree strongly and those who disagree strongly), but I view the JavaScript framework/library situation as a damning indictment of how terrible the language is. A constant churn of attempts to build a solid foundation upon a bed of leaky sand, each ultimately failing because no…

Completely agree, and I say this having written mostly JavaScript professionally for the last several years. It's sad to think of the millions of engineer-hours spent trying to make JS usable for today's applications. IOW, JavaScript is going to be great next year. Just like it was going to have been each year for the past 10 years or so. ES6 might actually be ok, in the sense of "about as good as Python 2.3".

>IOW, JavaScript is going to be great next year. Just like it was going to have been each year for the past 10 years or so.

Well, ES6 wasn't available "the past 10 years or so", whereas it will be next year, and recent 6-to-5 transpilers make it a backwards compatible option too.

>ES6 might actually be ok, in the sense of "about as good as Python 2.3".

Well, it's more ubiquitus that Python, more dynamic, more modern (if you include ES6 features), tied to a more powerful environment (the web), and beats the shit out of Python regarding execution speed.

Re: The abundance of JavaScript libraries

#10

Probably a controversial opinion to post here (not in that I think it is unique, but rather that I think there will be a divide in people who agree strongly and those who disagree strongly), but I view the JavaScript framework/library situation as a damning indictment of how terrible the language is. A constant churn of attempts to build a solid foundation upon a bed of leaky sand, each ultimately failing because no…

Completely agree, and I say this having written mostly JavaScript professionally for the last several years. It's sad to think of the millions of engineer-hours spent trying to make JS usable for today's applications. IOW, JavaScript is going to be great next year. Just like it was going to have been each year for the past 10 years or so. ES6 might actually be ok, in the sense of "about as good as Python 2.3".

I was under the impression that all dynamic languages were converging around a similar set of core principles.

  - builtin type literal
  - closures and fp idioms
  - generators
  - asynchrony
  - comprehensions
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