Is JavaScript the Next PERL?
Greg Wilson predicts in Scripting Languages: Into the Future that JavaScript could become the dominant scripting tool within five years.
[tease]
“JavaScript has a better than even chance of elbowing everything else aside. It already has most of the features that programmers want in a scripting language, like dynamic typing, built-in regular expressions, and a (very) relaxed approach to object-oriented programming. It also has something they don’t: a compelling reason to learn it, rather than something else.”
[tease]
“Unlike the competition, it has been blessed by a real standards committee (the kind whose members have business cards and wear polished shoes). ”
[via Dr. Dobb's Journal]
September 19th, 2005 at 5:38 pm
The problem with JavaScript isn’t so much a problem with the language but with the abusive things it lets people do with it - and do the do do. For example, the despicable “Make Poverty History” diagonal banner ad that some web sites float in the upper right corner of their page. It blocks navigation buttons and information in many cases. Popup windows, moving text, animations and the like are another abuse. It is very distracting from the real content, the message of the page. So I run with Java off for the most part to fight this and make pages be more useable. PithHelmet is helpful in this regard.