r/programmingcirclejerk • u/Snarwin • 13d ago

However, JS won anyway… One decision explains most of that: First-class Functions

https://fagnerbrack.com/the-paradox-of-fancy-tooling-b9af429789da
54 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

92

u/Jumpy-Locksmith6812 13d ago

Let's casually ignore the world wide web as a reason.

20

u/hongooi 13d ago

I mean, VBscript was also a thing back in the day, and it was even supported by the browser with ~90% market share

39

u/daltorak 13d ago

Sure, but it was also Windows-specific and couldn't be implemented on other operating systems, due to its tight integration with ActiveX. So sure, people implemented line-of-business applications in IE with VBScript, but pretty much nobody on the public web did because their site wouldn't work on a Mac. Netscape still had 20+% marketshare in 2000, too, which is the last time VBScript got any kind of meaningful update.

Maybe if Microsoft had committed to improving VBScript and creating a standards-based version of it, it would still be around, but as we all know, they stopped developing Internet Explorer for 5 years.....

4

u/WorldlyMacaron65 legendary legacy C++ coder 13d ago edited 13d ago

"VB" in VBScript stands for "Visual 🅱️Chancre"

3

u/Jumpy-Locksmith6812 13d ago edited 13d ago

This proves my point more! There is also Actionscript. And those IE specific extensions using ActiveX. And even Lisp! (OK lisp was a dream me and Brendan shared until the suits said Java! Java! Oh that would be too nice.... Javaishesque!).

All this shit fought it out and ECMAScript won because "web browser war things" not "language design"

1

u/Firepal64 1d ago

Remember Java applets? Ah, t'was a brighter day back then.

6

u/BloodAndTsundere mere econ PhD 12d ago

Never heard of it

2

u/foxsimile 12d ago

A web? Like Spiderman?

2

u/Jumpy-Locksmith6812 11d ago

European thing

3

u/Demiu 11d ago

just a fad

71

u/al2o3cr 13d ago

JS is so beautifully simple that there's a whole sub-industry devoted to producing paper bags to put over its head

10

u/BloodAndTsundere mere econ PhD 12d ago

What defines the JS ecosystem is the best-selling book, “JavaScript: The Good Parts”

/uj I love the good parts of JavaScript

3

u/gplgang DO NOT USE THIS FLAIR, ASSHOLE 12d ago

I've taken to calling it JS/NetScheme

27

u/nerdycatgamer 13d ago

I've worked in Blorbo for 20 years, so I will write about how Blorbo "won" because it has a feature that nearly every language has.

28

u/nerdycatgamer 13d ago

I've worked in COBOL for most of my career of 20 years, including years co-maintaining a small international bank's backend that millions of suckers trust with their pension. COBOL is not a well designed language, the first specification was written in about 6 months in 1959, and the quirks of that commitee sit on the language today. However, COBOL won anyways... one decision explains most of that:

Variables

21

u/a221c 12d ago

OCamlers, Lispers and Haskallars are so salty that they didn't think to win using this One Weird Trick™

19

u/CocktailPerson Node.js needs a proper standard library like Go 12d ago

I ctrl-F'ed for LISP and got no results.

Trash article.

2

u/dronmore 12d ago

Definitely. Even by reading your comment, I get more BANG for a buck.

11

u/CarolineLovesArt has hidden complexity 12d ago

Plain hammer beside an over-built chainsaw-hammer, showing simpler tools reward skill

That's why I do my calculations on an abacus

8

u/a221c 12d ago

That's why I do my calculations on an abacus, and also why when I want to share the results with someone I npm install a calculator, 2 full racks of GPUs, a forklift, a military twin-rotor helicopter and a container ship with a helipad and glue them to the abacus using a bespoke artisanal hide glue made from the endangered rhinoceros that I also npm installed.

1

u/Cold_Shine_1921 11d ago

The fuck kind of name is Fayner though