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It’s time to free JavaScript (2024)

javascript.tm

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Re: It’s time to free JavaScript (2024)

#341

Post by johannes1234321 »

chuckadams wrote: post #267
zdragnar wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, JavaScript wasn't the originally chosen name, it was LiveScript by Eich. I've never seen a justification for the name from anyone in the know, other than Eich's musing that Netscape wanted the "cool" factor. That "cool" factor was also why the original task of embedding scheme into the browser turned into a more C/Java-esque flavor.

Sun was pushing it as a way to script Java applets. Might have even worked out if LiveConnect (the interface layer between Java and JS) wasn't such buggy trash.

And if Java wouldn't have been such a big beast. The startup times for the runtime and memory usage were way too high for a good experience for most user's machines.

Re: It’s time to free JavaScript (2024)

#342

Post by echelon »

DANmode wrote: post #257
dev0p wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that you wrote it wrong is hilariously ironic. JavaScript is simply the better term, and marketing is everything. Reminds me of Java's POJOs, which was a very simple pattern that no one used, until someone gave them a fancy name. ECMAScript is a horrible technical name. Might as well call it ACMEScript considering how willie e. coyote it feels to develop with it...

ACME is actually better, because you can say or read it in under 5 business days.

I've heard people say "Eczema Script" in jest.

ECMAScript is a horrible name. It's worse than Google Bard.

Re: It’s time to free JavaScript (2024)

#343

Post by spullara »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #340
ChuckMcM wrote: post #319

Random nerd note: The history is slightly wrong. Netscape had their own "interactive script" language at the time Sun started talking about Java and somehow got the front page of the Mercury news when they announced it in March of 1995. At the Third International World Wide Web Conference in Darmstadt Germany everyone was talking about it and I was roped into giving a session on it during lunch break (which then had…

Was the "interactive script" LiveScript or something else? --- Edit: The above makes it sound like there was another scripting language: > they had a small problem which was that this was kind of a competitor to their own scripting language.

yeah, LiveScript was renamed JavaScript.

Re: It’s time to free JavaScript (2024)

#344

Post by spullara »

II2II wrote: post #148
karel-3d wrote: post #35

They now have GoFundMe where they are soliciting donations for a discovery phase of a patent trademark cancellation request. They have just 50k USD out of 200k USD they are raising. (No idea if that's appropriate; from the outside, it seems like a lot of money, but also they are fighting Oracle which has unlimited money, so, yeah) For some reason it's not linked in the page itself. https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-…

Wouldn't Oracle's use of the Java trademark be problematic in a trademark cancellation request? We're talking about two very similar names for identical product types (i.e. programming languages). Indeed the similarity was originally intended to imply an association. I wouldn't be surprised if Oracle's sole interest in the trademark is due to its similarity and history.

I think this is accurate. No way for them to give up JavaScript and not risk giving up Java.

Re: It’s time to free JavaScript (2024)

#345

Post by stack_framer »

collinmanderson wrote: post #203

The last time this was brought up, "WebScript" was mentioned as a possible alternative name. (Like WebAssembly, WebSockets, WebRTC, etc.) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45297066

I really like "WebScript" but people will shorten it to "ws", which will make me think of the NPM WebSocket package [0] every time I see it!

[0] https://www.npmjs.com/package/ws

Re: It’s time to free JavaScript (2024)

#346

Post by cachius »

7bit wrote: post #266
alberth wrote: post #177

Silly question: how are people negatively impacted by the trademark of "JavaScript"? Because in practice, isn't this a bit like "Kleenex" - where everyone knows you mean "tissue" (EMCAScript).

> everyone knows Not everybody knows. People who learn JavaScript don't know. In fact, they must learn this. And from my experience, most learning resources don't mention this, let alone teach this. It took me a really long time to understand what ECMAScript is and how it relates to JavaScript. And the effort I put in this understanding... I would have preferred to not having needed that. So no, not everybody knows t…

ECMAScript:JavaScript :: You-Know-Who:Lord Voldemort

Re: It’s time to free JavaScript (2024)

#350

Post by andirk »

karel-3d wrote: post #35

They now have GoFundMe where they are soliciting donations for a discovery phase of a patent trademark cancellation request. They have just 50k USD out of 200k USD they are raising. (No idea if that's appropriate; from the outside, it seems like a lot of money, but also they are fighting Oracle which has unlimited money, so, yeah) For some reason it's not linked in the page itself. https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-…

Someone should patent .
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