[billyhoffman]

This. "Technical arcana" is exactly right.

Your code should rarely be clever or rely on the the weird dark corner-case cruft of a language. Too often I see JS code written like an entry in the Obfuscated C contest. Yes, that code can work, but don't do that.

[_getify]

The books point all the arcane points of the language so that the reader can understand them. They're also full of commentary like "never do this".

Rather than most books which gloss over the "bad parts", which prevents people from fuller learning and leaves them to their own devices when they run across that stuff in the real world, YDKJS covers all the parts, and tries to use the deeper understanding as a tool and guide to making better-informed decisions about how to effectively write JS.

I think it's entirely unfair to suggest that covering "technical arcana" is the same thing as endorsing it.

[billyhoffman]

I never once mentioned your books Kyle. I actually enjoy the parts that I've read. I was making a broader point that I have witnessed with the JS community: using technical arcana in production code as if it was a good thing. Just one example: https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/issues/3057