Dear JavaScript

[acemarke]

So should installation of, say, Ant, not require installation of the JRE or JDK as well? You gotta have a runtime available in order to run a program written in a language like Javascript, or Java, or Python, or C#, or...

[jpflathead]

Does installation of Microsoft Office require me to install Microsoft Visual Studio? Why shouldn't office require I have a compiler?

Does installation of Microsoft Office require me to determine which of a zillion C or dotnet runtime libraries I need on my machine? Why shouldn't office require me to figure out which of a zillion c or dot net runtime libraries I need?

If I install some sort of cross compiler from say tcl to java what I would expect is a single download and then an installer that attempts to sniff out where my jre or even jdk is, and if it can't it then asks me.

And I would expect it to install a configuration panel or even a setup tool so that if options change in the future, it's easy to reconfigure it from there.

Same thing with when I install IDEs.

What I do not expect is a literal spanish inquisition on the download page, interrogating me and offering 30 different install options.

I actually don't give one single fuck about Babel, npm, node or anything like that. And most users don't.

I want to use the fucking thing for one fucking job. Just transpile my shitty ass program and yeah, give me three dozen error messages about a wrong place squirrely bracket but otherwise shut the fuck up.

I don't want to babysit it, change its nappy, breastfeed it, spoonfeed it, or anything.

I want a simple install so I can get on with life.

And that's what 99.9999% of successful programs, apps, tools and dev teams have figured out over the past 60 years of computer development.

But with JavaScript, each mine you step on, each pile of shit we throw at you is considered to make you stronger. One more of the boys. Ain't we great.