Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by wwww4all 1956 days ago
Great write up of the issues in migration to wasm.

It should give insights into anyone contemplating thoughts about replacing JavaScript with X technology.

JavaScript is the most popular and deployed full stack platform. It simply works with web workflows and development patterns. All the issues with JavaScript are trivial and new features and frameworks are available to overcome most issues.
1 comments
nitsky 1956 days ago
> All the issues with JavaScript are trivial

If the problems with JavaScript are trivial, why are the solutions such as webpack, babel, and typescript so complicated. Many companies have whole teams of people dedicated to maintaining solutions these problems.

> and new features and frameworks are available to overcome most issues.

Producing JavaScript apps that are both fast to run and easy to maintain does not feel like a problem that has been solved yet.

link
hombre_fatal 1956 days ago
> If the problems with JavaScript are trivial, why are the solutions such as webpack, babel, and typescript so complicated. Many companies have whole teams of people dedicated to maintaining solutions these problems.

Because building user-facing clients that run on a bunch of moving-target user machines instead of one big server has fundamental differences and challenges that afflicts all client development, no matter which language you're using nor the platform you're targeting, nor have centralized proprietary platforms that work on a single line of phones (Android, iOS) fared much better than the opposite, disjointed, organic approach of volunteers (the web).

Why? Because it's hard, and hard for everyone.

> Producing JavaScript apps that are both fast to run and easy to maintain does not feel like a problem that has been solved yet.

You say that like you think anyone has solved it. How to build UIs in a world of constantly changing consumer tech is still an open question because it's hard, and it will always be. Apple is still straddling spaghetti code KVO systems from the 70s, and their new-fangled SwiftUI platform is still so buggy that the last three places I held an iOS contract with were clinging to UIKit.

link
speed_spread 1956 days ago
> Producing JavaScript apps that are both fast to run and easy to maintain does not feel like a problem that has been solved yet.

If the language is not part of the solution, maybe it's part of the problem?

link