[bobisme]

> complex apps like gmaps and Google docs were written entirely in JS

I always assumed complex Google apps from that era were built with GWT, which would mean Java.

[Zacru]

No, but they were written using the Closure Compiler type annotations. So closer to TS than plain JS.

[orange8]

Closure compiler was released in 2009, google maps in 2005. So no, you've got it all wrong. The only thing limiting you from using the full power of JS is your mindset. And Google maps is just one example, others include nodejs, electron, react, vue, svelte....