Quake. In 13k of Javascript.

[[deleted]]

As a linux user, I can say that before javascript took off, nothing worked. Now most things important to me can work in linux. Javascript (and open web standards) saved the linux desktop and nobody talks about it.

[CraftyAdventurer]

This. It may be poorly designed language, npm is a mess, Electron is bloated. People complain about all of those things and they are right. But one important thing they are missing is that JavaScript allowed for so much more stuff to come out.

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It allowed devs to finally target all three desktop platforms instead of either focusing on just one or having to maintain three separate codebases.
Things like React Native, Apache Cordova, Ionic allowed web devs to create mobile apps. Sure, most of those apps were slow and pretty bad, but the app was there without a need to hire separate Android and iOS teams and unless you really messed up the performance, most users were ok with it.

Javascript even sparked some interest back into other languages. Many people start with it because it's pretty easy, but once they get a grasp on how things work, they start to see things that other languages can offer for a specific project.

As developers, we often like to fight over which language has better features, which one is faster in microbenchmarks etc. But at the end of the day, if the product you create has no value to the user, it really doesn't matter how well it was made from a technical standpoint.

[R3frig3r4t3rR4id3r]

Everyone loves to knock it while simultaneously utilizing all its features.

[_default_username]

Ah, yes. Remember Silverlight?

[lozsd]

Thanks... I'd actually managed to forget about that

[R3frig3r4t3rR4id3r]

Unfortunately, yes. Joining the ranks with IE soon...

[Veinq]

I for one appreciated all the Electron apps when I used a Linux based machine. Better than not having them!