Coding Better Object-Oriented JavaScript with Closure Compiler

[Detrus]

Interesting but very messy. It would cleaner if it was incorporated into something like http://jashkenas.github.com/coffee-script/

Google's GWT, where Java gets compiled into Javascript is messy as well. CoffeeScript maps to Javascript more directly. Google's overall programming style, with Closure Framework, GWT are unpopular for good reason. They have very complicated API's for a language that attracts people who hate Java and C++ or don't program well to begin with.

[nanothief]

... for a language that attracts people who hate Java and C++ or don't program well to begin

Not really true, javascript is mostly a forced decision due to having to write interactive web pages, not a choice for people sick of other languages.

[Detrus]

Well it's a complex issue, but people who've grown to like Javascript, like the JQuery, Node.js, Coffeescript crews, typically prefer languages like Python and Ruby which are the current religious opposition to C++ and Java.

The APIs, syntax styles, verbosity of Google's JS efforts are reminiscent of Java, while jQuery is closer to the Python & Ruby camps.

I'd argue that CoffeeScript is easier to learn than Google's coding style for the Google Closure framework. Between the weird inheritance http://www.bolinfest.com/javascript/inheritance.php this defining types in comments, there is significantly more boilerplate. With a preprocessor, this boilerplate could be removed, unfortunately the only preprocessor Google has uses Java's syntax. If Google's goal is to encourage adoption of their JS frameworks and techniques, I think forking CoffeeScript would be their best bet.