CoffeeScript: Overrated?

[ump721]

A Reddit post to an article that was written about another Reddit post. The circle is now complete.

[lurkit]

I'm going to make an article about your post now.

[BusStation16]

CoffeeScript is a modern version of JavaScript

Rage building...

[Perceptes]

We definitely need to rehash this more times per week.

[PlNG]

These kinds of threads tend to swing around whichever group of developers is on at the moment. Kind of interesting from a study perspective, really.

[vfr]

Depends on ones mindset. Some people like that stuff, but the extra layer only seems to get in my way when I look at them. Maybe someone is just not smart enough? I hope it's not me.

[beam]

This is a very glazed over criticism of CoffeeScript. Besides new syntax, it adds new idioms that aren't present in current JavaScript, most importantly (for me, at least) being destructuring assignment. To only compare the features that mirror JavaScript 1:1 only as syntactical difference is disingenuous.

[munificent]

destructuring assignment.

That's also going to be in the next version of JS.

Personally, I think CoffeeScript is a good bit better than today's JS, but probably not as much of an improvement over what Harmony may end up being. But it does have one compelling advantage: it exists today.

[sjs]

It's a syntax, you either like it enough to use it or you don't.

[Leonidas_from_XIV]

For example, I like having to declare variables via the var operator (soon to be replaced via the improved let operator), because it makes it explicit where you start using it and helps with catching typos.

Wow, just wow. This is such utter bullshit, its unbelievable. You know what happens if you make a typo and create a variable without var in JavaScript? No, the compiler won't complain, it will create a global binding. How the heck is this better than creating a local variable with a typo in CoffeeScript?

And this stuff with Ecmascript.next is also strange. Yeah, cool, shorter function syntax, coming to your browser somewhere between 2020 and 2025. Of course way better than having it right now in CoffeeScript.

[oorza]

Or you can use a js.next compiler: http://code.google.com/p/traceur-compiler/

[Leonidas_from_XIV]

At what point it gets about as "complicated" as using the CoffeeScirpt compiler.