[codelikeawolf]

> Let's not go into that for the millionth time

Ok, that's fair. My goal with this question wasn't to open a can of worms. But whenever I see a strong averse reaction to JS, I assume that the person hasn't tried using _modern_ JS.

> why is TS wildly successful

From my perspective, it stops me from making stupid mistakes, improves autocomplete, and adds more explicitness to the code, which is incredibly beneficial for large teams and big projects. But I don't think that answers my original question, because if you strip away the types, it's JS.

> even before that everyone was trying to use anything-but-js

Because JS used to suck a lot more, but it sucks a lot less now.

[tpm]

> why is TS wildly successful

>From my perspective, it stops me from making stupid mistakes, improves autocomplete, and adds more explicitness to the code, which is incredibly beneficial for large teams and big projects. But I don't think that answers my original question, because if you strip away the types, it's JS.

I think it sort of does answer that - if js was not an awful language, there would be no need for TS, even if TS just a band-aid. Even better, if browsers provided a compile target, bytecode/vm spec or whatever instead of a very bad language everyone has to use, we would be spared of close to three decades of evolving tooling that is trying to remedy that bad decision.

[codelikeawolf]

> I think it sort of does answer that - if js was not an awful language, there would be no need for TS.

Eh, I disagree. For me, this statement is the equivalent of saying "if Python was not an awful language, there would be no need for mypy" or "if Ruby was not such an awful language, there would be no need for Sorbet". I don't think mypy or Sorbet improves the underlying languages; they just add some additional DX to prevent those aforementioned stupid mistakes.

I wasn't trying to be disingenuous when I asked what was wrong with JS. You've now referred to it as "awful" and "very bad". I have used other programming languages pretty extensively, and JS seems fine to me. When I asked you why it was bad, you hand-waved it away, saying "let's not go into that for the millionth time". When I see statements like that, I immediately think "oh, so this person is just jumping on the bandwagon without providing objective reasons for why this language is bad". If you think that JS is bad and awful, fine, that's your opinion. But whenever I have a negative opinion on something and I'm presented with compelling evidence to the contrary, I re-evaluate my reasons for why I think it's bad and possibly change my mind.

At the end of the day, if you want to hate on JS and hope for a browser compile target that lets you use any other language than JS to build web apps, that's your prerogative. I was a web dev for almost 10 years, and I've seen the improvements to the language and ecosystem over time. So whenever I encounter the "LoL Js SuCkS" mindset, it grinds my gears a little bit.

[tpm]

> For me, this statement is the equivalent of saying "if Python was not an awful language, there would be no need for mypy"

This analogy breaks down because if Python does not fit your preferences or the needs of your project, you can use any other language. You can't do this for JS if you have to write for the browser. Well technically you can transpile but that is leaky so in some capacity it still will be JS. And that is the issue.

> I wasn't trying to be disingenuous when I asked what was wrong with JS.

I'm just tired after decades of this. I will gladly use any language I have ever used profesionally instead of JS (so no VB please, but give me Perl, Tcl, Java, PHP, C, whatever). Just yesterday there was this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46589658

I have seen the improvements too. And the language is getting better, but by now the whole ecosystem including TS and all frameworks is hopelessly infected. And I don't even see the meaning of giving concrete examples because it's just so overwhelmingly frustrating I wouldn't know where to begin or end.

[homarp]

> [...] sucks less

so does c, zig, c++, go, rust, python, ruby, php, ada,...

[codelikeawolf]

I'm not sure if this is meant to be snarky or if you're saying that the languages you listed have improved over time. If you're being snarky, you've proven my point by saying several random programming languages are better than JS while providing zero justification.

[homarp]

It's a complement to my other answer to you (about your Q on why ppl would not want to learn/use js and would prefer WASM if there was FastDOM ==> because not everyone wants to be multilingual): I was listing a few languages that people are confortable with and would rather use through WASM than learning idiomatic JS/TS ( it's easy to learn the syntax, it takes practice to learn the idiomatic way).

And yes, I do meant that my listed have gotten better, just like JS/TS.

As for why not comp/transpiling to JS? it is my impression that WASM was born out of that ( Compiled to subset of js (asm.js)) and it's an evolution of compiling to JS.

[codelikeawolf]

Ah, my bad. I apologize if I came off as too aggressive. I know these comment threads can get heated.

As far as the comp/transpiling thing, I was referring to something like ScalaJS, ClojureScript, Kotlin/JS, etc. I'll admit that the JS output isn't always pretty, but it's still JS. I think that compiling to a Wasm module is different than transpiling, because Wasm is more of a black box.

I think it's fine to ship a `.wasm` file that does some kind of computation and complements the app. But I think shipping a `.wasm` file that builds your UI is like using a drill to install a nail: technically, you could do it, but it's harder, slower, and you'll probably end up damaging something or hurting yourself.