javascript vision thing

[kai zhu]

tldr - tc39 should focus more on JSON-friendly javascript-language-features instead of wasting-time on hard-to-serialize classes/meta-programming.

have you ever wondered why javascript is so popular? why you decided to become a nodejs/backend-javascript programmer?

javascript’s popularity is not because of any engineering/technical merits.  its entirely a derivative of the fact that browsers have taken over the world, and many new software-jobs are either frontend-related, or some [glorified] form of backend-support for the frontend.  the business-proposition for why your employer hired you as a nodejs-developer (vs. php, etc…), is likely because they thought using the same language as their frontend-developer, would allow you to better *support* the needs of the frontend.  and if you can’t do a better job at supporting the frontend than a cheaper php/etc… developer, then you honestly should be *fired* (or “promoted” to management).

my problem with tc39, is that they “claim” javascript is a general-purpose language (and try to design it as such), when industry-wise, its really not.  if javascript was not a browser-language, most employers could not justify hiring developers to create software with it.  if tc39 is sincerely interested in keeping javascript a dominant/relevant language in industry, they should focus on *practical* (vs *academic*) features that help it maintain its edge as a frontend/web-integration language over its competitors.

and the primary-edge javascript has over its competitors (in an industry dominated by web-programming), is that it can transparently manipulate-and-serialize JSON data-structures between frontend <-> backend systems, while competitors like java depend on clumsy, error-prone, class-constructors and custom-serializers.

kai zhu
kaizhu256 at gmail.com

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