JavaScript

I just wanted to say that it's amazing. It can do all kinds of things not very well. I particularly enjoy the reliability of the code. It's also cool that many of the libraries have asynchronous functions, that you can mix with synchronous functions to create hybrid code that is nearly impossible to understand, less debug. I like the idea of promises, but the name is totally misleading; they should be called lucky eight balls.

-Josh

I was going to link to the old video of the fat guy punching his beige-box computer and later knocking the monitor over with the keyboard, but most of the videos on the tube site seem like derivative works. Something about that video connects with me, at a deeply spiritual level.

-Josh

You got that far? I lasted 2 minutes with that language, it is the most popular language in the world apparently.

Apparently its the "assembly language of the internet", which presumably means that you'd have to be some sort of lunatic to actually code it by hand ?

Herbie

jQuery. Problem solved. 

5 hours ago, JoshRoss wrote

I was going to link to the old video of the fat guy punching his beige-box computer and later knocking the monitor over with the keyboard, but most of the videos on the tube site seem like derivative works. Something about that video connects with me, at a deeply spiritual level.

-Josh

Next to the hatred for JavaScript, which goes without saying, I just wanted to say that I feel the same way about that video. The guy's rage is almost palpable, and almost terrifyingly recognizable.

You're approaching it from the wrong angle. You can write nice reliable JavaScript code if you understand the philosophy, if you know the pitfalls and what to pay attention to.

You can't write JavaScript code the way you write C# code. It's like writing SQL-code with a lot of loops and IF-statements. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

The problem is that it's hard to find good resources on writing good JavaScript code.

You should definitely watch the Douglas Crockford videos on JavaScript:

• Volume 1: The Early Years (102 minutes)
• Chapter 2: And Then There Was JavaScript (90 minutes)
• Act III: Function The Ultimate (73 minutes)
• Episode IV: The Metamorphosis of Ajax (93 minutes)
• Part 5: The End of All Things (94 minutes)
• Scene 6: Loopage (52 minutes)

I frequently hear people say that Crockford's JavaScript: The Good Parts is the best book about writing good JavaScript code.

@JoshRoss: Your sarcastic prose is to be commended.  LOL

@TommyCarlier:

Pretty much every JavaScript loving dev I have worked with, wrote/writes code that has some of the most beautiful hacks immaginable. It does teach you to think different, and surely that is a good thing.

I just don't think people pay enough to have an expert level in the language, they just assume everyone can do it. If it got me an extra 10 or 20 grand a year, i'd learn it.

You can't write JavaScript code the way you write C# code. It's like writing SQL-code with a lot of loops and IF-statements. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Some people can write VB code in any language.

5 hours ago, ManipUni wrote

jQuery. Problem solved. 

I had a problem. I solved it with jQuery. Now I have two problems.

Not trying to knock JavaScript, or jQuery, as both are excellent tools for their niches. However, responses like the one you just made always make me shake my head. jQuery uses some pretty advanced JavaScript concepts, and in using them pushes them on the user. If you struggle with JavaScript by itself, jQuery isn't going to help, it's more likely to make things worse.

There are now several established alternatives that provide static typing and can compile down to Javascript, so if you really don't enjoy Javascript, you do have other options; unless of course there's an organizational lock-in to Javascript. haXe, Coffeescript, C# 1.x?, Java 1.?, etc. And of course the new kid on the block with optional typing - Dart (but that's still premature).

6 hours ago, evildictait​or wrote

*snip*

Some people can write VB code in any language.

Has anyone gotten round to porting SpectateSwampDesktopSearch to C++ or C# yet? Many people said they would.

3 hours ago, W3bbo wrote

Has anyone gotten round to porting SpectateSwampDesktopSearch to C++ or C# yet? Many people said they would.

Someone wrote it in plain old C, I think it's called grep, or something like that.

-Josh

@JoshRoss: No way. Grep doesn't have RANDOM!

17 hours ago, W3bbo wrote

*snip*

Has anyone gotten round to porting SpectateSwampDesktopSearch to C++ or C# yet? Many people said they would.

I loled

17 hours ago, W3bbo wrote

*snip*

Has anyone gotten round to porting SpectateSwampDesktopSearch to C++ or C# yet? Many people said they would.

Now I remember. I played with it for an hour or two but then figured it would ether take me a week or custom VB parser / static analysis tool (which would again take some considerable time) to deconvolute SSDS into C# equivalent. Would be fun, though, to see those thousands LOC translated into dunno maybe 50 lines of LINQ with every conceivable 'feature' of SSDS preserved.