[billziss]

I wrote my first website in 1995 and started using Javascript in 1996 (only I think it was called Livescript back then)?

I was not impressed. On the client side I would use it for very few things and when I tried the server side version I decided that I would rather stick with Perl and CGI. Although I did not like Perl, I could get things done with it. (Oh, I just remember: also Cold Fusion!)

My opinion of Javascript has not improved over the years. I worked with Javascript for a while and in complex enough problems that my name ended up on 2-3 patents and patent applications. I no longer work on the web, but I have occasional need for Javascript and I always hate my time with it.

This will be an unpopular opinion, but frankly I am perplexed by its popularity, because it is neither simple nor elegant.

[8bitsrule]

> I think it was called Livescript back then)?

As Encyclopedia Brittanica (!! who'd have thought) puts it,

JavaScript was developed in 1995 at Netscape Communications Corp. and was conceived of as a companion to Java. It was originally called Mocha and then LiveScript before Netscape received a marketing license from Sun.[0]

And then it became 'a dialect of ECMAScript'...

[0] https://www.britannica.com/technology/JavaScript

[gwbas1c]

> This will be an unpopular opinion, but frankly I am perplexed by its popularity, because it is neither simple nor elegant.

If you're going to do in browser development, what choice so you have? I can understand server-side JavaScript, mostly to avoid cognitive load from learning two languages.

Otherwise, I think WebAssembly is a lot more promising of a technology.

[jiofih]

Why do you hate it? It’s one of the friendliest languages in current use, a nice mix of OO and FP, with top-notch tooling everywhere, and incredible performance for an interpreted language.

[phillipkang]

I think the accessibility of web browsers and npm allowed the JavaScript ecosystem to explode, hence it's staying power.