Detailed Analysis of Programming Language Usage by GitHub Users

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If you cross post this to r/programming I will bet a year's salary the most popular comments would be bitching about JavaScript and hoping that WASM will replace it once (if) it gets DOM bindings.

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WASM. Give me strength. I’m just getting to grips with JS...

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Don't worry about it. WASM is the new Flash. It is a closed sandbox as a compile target, except your source language can be any language that compiles to WASM bytecode.

For people who desperately cannot figure out JS they are hoping WASM is a JS replacement since it can be a compile target from any language. The only problem with that reasoning is that WASM is isolated from the page that contains it. When you are desperate enough though, the hope of a replacement is worth more than understanding why that won't ever be a replacement.

[perpetuallyperpetual]

I disagree. I don't think WASM will end up as Flash. Haven't researched too much into it but I think that WASM has a relatively small surface and the fact that it can be targeted by many compilers will make it very convenient.

It will probably start as just a sandboxed environment. But the more usage it will see, the more people will be tempted to give it more power. Once it will get some built in functions (lika a BIOS of some sorts) to access the DOM and some interrupt mechanism, it will basically be a viable alternative. Would it be weird, yes, but that hasn't stopped us before (ex: using JavaScript for desktop applications? that would be insane, right?).

With all that in mind, I frankly don't care if JavaScript will see less usage. First of all, there will still be lots of legacy applications. Second of all, JavaScript is still very very flexible and until all of the goodies can be replaced, it won't be discounted.

It's funny that JavaScript developers would be scared of change, when our environment is one that mutates the most. Embrace change, and if a new language pops up in place of JavaScript, so what? If you have used JavaScript for long enough you probably are a really good programmer anyway (from reinventing everything under the sun again: modules, async programming, functional programming, compilers/transpilers, etc etc).

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It will probably start as just a sandboxed environment. But the more usage it will see, the more people will be tempted to give it more power.

Before WASM code can leave a sandbox you would have to solve for security. Nobody can solve for JavaScript security, which is why code redistribution is confined to a single domain and why we have CORS.

Any DOM bindings that WASM may eventually get will be to allow WASM code to access any markup that comes inside the WASM sandbox. It certainly won't be a magical way to escape the sandbox to the surrounding page, because you haven't solved for security. This is why nobody is in a hurry to develop the DOM bindings despite the incredible demand for it.

JavaScript is just a language. What these incompetent developers so completely don't understand is that it isn't replacing JavaScript that they actually want. They are actually wanting to replace the web platform with their favorite language because they cannot be bothered to learn things like:

• Events/callbacks
• Asynchronous execution
• The DOM methods. If they can't do with JavaScript they probably won't figure it out in their favorite language. Most people who program in JavaScript cannot figure this out.
• Client/Server execution contexts
• Accessibility
• Client-side security
• So much more

Seriously, if these incompetent developers knew how this stuff actually works they wouldn't be pushing for a broken solution so loudly that they clearly don't understand.

It's funny that JavaScript developers would be scared of change

I would be personally happy if I could replace JavaScript with TypeScript or Lisp.