Help us raise $200k to free JavaScript from Oracle • Hacker News Board

Re: Help us raise $200k to free JavaScript from Oracle

#371

Post by senderpath » Mon, Sep 22, 2025, 6:25 PM UTC

DonHopkins wrote: post #341

legobmw99 wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should call it UnTypedScript

SelfishScript. JavaScript credits Self as inspiration, but misses all the important things about Self. JavaScript copied: The name "Java", cynically chosen for marketing misdirection, not technical truth. The word "prototype" from Self, but turned it into a quirky pseudo-class system. Instead of living objects delegating naturally, with multiple inheritance dynamically changeable at runtime, JavaScript glued on a wei…

Yes, indeed! It's a design philosophy, and one that the market does not always reward. I suspect that for many, it is either not salient, or unimportant. Design is subjective, and multi-dimensional.

Thank you, Don for seeing and writing about this dimension.

Re: Help us raise $200k to free JavaScript from Oracle

#372

Post by coldtea » Mon, Sep 22, 2025, 7:13 PM UTC

surajrmal wrote: post #369

coldtea wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Linux foundation would not exist if only individuals donated to it Many things would not exist if they had to exist properly. Doesn't mean them existing improperly is good. > Company backed OSS doesn't suffer from this. No, but suffers from a way worse issue: corporate control. Which is why community FOSS has been going downhill since circa 2005.

FOSS barely existed in 2005 compared to what it is today. Communities rarely stay the same as they grow larger, but that doesn't mean they are worse. Change is inevitable.

>FOSS barely existed in 2005 compared to what it is today.

On the contrary: it barely exists today.

FOSS in (roughly speaking) 2005 and before was about a larger vision and a community. Not about mere access to code with specific licenses, or how many trillion dollar companies are depending on it.

>Communities rarely stay the same as they grow larger, but that doesn't mean they are worse. .

I'm not speaking about how communities in change in abstract (in which case doesn't mean necessarily for the worse). I'm speaking about what specific FOSS communities have had happened to them, and which I, and others, do find worse.

Re: Help us raise $200k to free JavaScript from Oracle

#373

Post by r_lee » Tue, Sep 23, 2025, 8:39 AM UTC

Sammi wrote: post #366

ecshafer wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How? How does it benefit people. The name javascript being trademarked has never affected me once in my life. Especially since its technically Ecmascript and I am technically writing typescript nowadays.

All the people who are trying to make a living educating people on JavaScript cannot safely use the darn name of the thing.

Has there been any cases like this recently? I can't recall this being an issue

Re: Help us raise $200k to free JavaScript from Oracle

#374

Post by neop1x » Tue, Sep 23, 2025, 3:58 PM UTC

throwingrocks wrote: post #55

Surprised by the amount of mentions of ECMAScript here. It’s the worst possible name to me.

Exactly. I would just rename it to something nicer and forget about Java - it has very little to do with it nowadays anyway. A new name can even retain .js extensions like: JetScript, JoyScript, JuiceScript, JadeScript, JunoScript, whatever...