[gordianknot]

To me that's the value proposition actually. Invest in learning and collaborating now, then be ahead of the curve in a few years (if interested in getting hired) or be ready to capitalize and know how to hire and make software that only could've been made with it when it eventually reaches some level of maturity. I mean, those that grow it reap the best rewards.

Software is a product of the platform(s) it was built with, in the same way a novel is a reflection of the writer's language more-so than the writer. Microsoft's software is what happens when you use C and .NET; Google with C++, Java, and Python; Facebook with PHP; 37signals with Rails; etc. There are apps that will be built because they could only be built with a unified JS platform. There will be new kinds of software that directly result from the new possibilities of Node, CoffeeScript, Meteor, Firebase, Parse, etc.

Different tools yield fundamentally different results. Once a platform is "mainstream", it's to late, the big opportunities have already passed and the innovation is elsewhere. There's still a chance to be the "DHH of Node"; that spot's obviously already been taken in the Ruby world.

[sasha-dv]

Learning new technologies is something I do, not because I'm interested in getting hired or in becoming the DHH of node. I would do it even if I were by profession a truck driver.

This may sound "romantic", but when your love of technology interferes with you actually being productive and getting things done, ... it's frustrating.

If you are a student, then jumping on a new platform and making a name for yourself is a great thing to do. But I'm an old fart, I was there when Java applets were "the thing that will change the world".

>There will be new kinds of software that directly result from the new possibilities of Node, CoffeeScript, Meteor, Firebase, Parse, etc.

Like what? (not rude, just curious)

As far as I can see there's nothing new under the Sun, so to speak.

[gordianknot]

I hear you, and can relate to the romance and frustration! I was in grade school when JS was released... but've been writing it for over 10 years now. I tried "everything" else, and it's made be a better JS hacker, but I feel like I'm doing it wrong when I use anything else.

I didn't mean to suggest riding the wave of new, distinct, non-progressive technologies. Their is a progression; it seems clear to me that PG was right, that we (as an industry) are slowly moving toward Lisp. He also said that he felt Lisp and C represent the two "clean, consistent" programming models, and I agree. And that's the reason that JS isn't just another passing wave (although my previous comment did seem to make that suggestion).

JS is something different; it's (1) a good-enough balance of C and Lisp and (2) available on every platform. To me, the situation is clearly that JS will form a solid, durable layer over C. Then the language designers and industry hype machine will shift to langs that compile to JS. This is already happening, naturally, it's just not evenly distributed.

> Like what?

We're still in the early days of compiling to JS, and being able to use it as a modern server-side environment. I don't know what the results will be, but I think the difference will stem mostly from development time. Even though it could be done, in practice you don't end up with the same app if using Fortran, Java, and CoffeeScript, because doing so would take a month versus a week versus a day. To paraphrase Linus from his Tech Talk on Git, speed doesn't mean you do the same thing faster, it changes behavior.

Apps will get written that wouldn't've. I'd argue that Facebook succeeded mostly because of PHP, and in turn, that they'll eventually fail because of it, too. They beat MySpace because MySpace used the MSFT stack; it's like England's victory over Spain due to more nimble war ships. Same thing'll happen to FB unless they evolve when necessary.

This is what Yegge was getting at back in '06 [Dreaming in a Browser Swamp]. He mentioned "Scheme on Skis" and "JavaScript on Jets", which might turn out to be ClojureScript and Express or Railway. Well on our way, and he was entirely right in retrospect (even though a shocking number of smart hackers don't want to accept it and keep on with archaic tech that's becoming rapidly endangered, but that's life).

Light Table is an early example of an app that's happening because of ClojureScript. And many exiting CoffeeScript apps are quite impressive: https://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/wiki/In-The-Wild

I think it comes down to being able to focus on design and make fast changes, without needing to worrying as much about the lower layers of abstraction.