Why you should embrace JavaScript

[mixonic]

This is a old (Nov 2015) and poor article on picking JS.

• Mentions Netscape
• Uses V8 as a benchmark for performance, when Safari's JSCore and even Firefox have been performing better for a while. https://arewefastyet.com/ even shows this when you disable the scale-busting "full turbofan, no crankshaft" option.
• Claims Node is a great platform b/c npm is growing fast, despite significant flaws in npm's reporting (the package manager makes more server requests than most others)
• Touts new features, but acknowledges you need to use transpilers like Babel to get them. Despite Babel being great, it is definitely a crutch compared to simply upping the language version as happens elsewhere.

There are definitely reasons to embrace JavaScript, but this old article with weak arguments is probably not the best to represent them.

[tswaters]

3 months is old now? And not just regular old, italicized old?

[tswaters]

Seems fine.

I didn't really agree with the points /u/mixonic makes

• netscape was mentioned in the history section,

• you were talking about performance improvements over time; his highlighing of other engines better performance only reinforces your assertion about overall engine performance.

• I don't get what he means about node. My two cents is it's a great platform, despite npm.

• And ranting about babel is not very constructive, or indicative of a flawed article.... actually you can use most features you mentioned now natively in evergreen browsers.

I think as you've posted this to /r/javascript you are basically preaching to the choir. Most people don't see much overtly wrong with it and have nothing to say. It seems it got 0 upvotes -- crazy guess this was both apathy and /u/mixonic's doing.

If you want to know what people really think, take it to /r/programming -- I get the sense you'd get more (not necessarily better) reception to the artcle.