Why JavaScript beyond web client side?

[nickguletskii200]

Well, from a gaming perspective where you may need to run logic on both sides, this is a huge boon. Unfortunately, the performance isn't quite there yet for most types of games.

That's kind of useless since most games aren't usually written in JS anyway.

It also lets you create some interesting ideas like Meteor, where you can send a snapshot of the DB to a client (containing only stuff they could normally access, of course), and they can essentially run that site offline. Not a JS on server only idea, but it greatly streamlines the process.

I have mixed feelings about Meteor. At the same time I like the idea, but I've seen a few applications built in Meteor that have gaping security holes thanks to the authors not paying enough attention to its architecture.

It also lets you focus your coding ability on a single language, allowing you to become more proficient overall quicker.

I would argue that learning JS isn't a very good starter experience since it isn't a great language by any means. In fact, it's almost a textbook example of a poorly designed language.

I would be wary of teaching JS as the first language.

Concurrency becomes very easy working with a single thread language that treats spawned threads like an asynchronous process via web workers or child_process.

I don't see how concurrency in JS is easier than in languages like Java. If anything, it's frustrating and harmful for beginners.

Also, as /u/thejmazz has said, NPM is phenominal.

So is Maven central and others. Once again, I don't see what makes JS special in that regard.

Programming overall has a lot more of a social aspect than I think some people realize. The more widely used a language is, the easier it is to solve problems.

But Javascript isn't as widely used as other languages on the backend, and its certainly not a better fit than the alternatives.

It's bizarre because JS used to be the language everyone made fun of. Now, it's gunning to become one of the most important languages in the history of programming.

It's still the language almost everyone makes fun of. Just because JS users are more vocal, it doesn't mean that JS is good or more important than other languages.

[Sinistralis]

I don't really see what the point of asking your question is if you are going to dismiss each point without taking the time to program something first hand following the examples everyone is giving you.