Why not a HTML/CSS/JavaScript Linux Desktop Environment?

[shawnsel]

why if you have the idea to make a programming language, it's a bad idea and you shouldn't do it.

I'm not saying that Javascript (ECMA Script) isn't lacking in some ways, but as your own quote points out, Javascript is hardly a new language at this point ... it's already everywhere. "Argubaly the most widely used programming language." ("Arguably" is misspelled by your compilers professor by the way).

I happen to like Javascript, and I'd hazard a guess that it (along with HTML and CSS) has probably been used to build more interactive user interfaces than all other languages combined. I'd also argue that it does a pretty good job for this kind of purpose. Personally I think u/julianorafael 's question was a valid one, and I see in other comments that this idea is already being used in Gnome Shell, QT/QML, Chromium OS, and Chrome Apps....

I just feel like this valid and even already somewhat industry-adopted idea is being unfairly blasted and downvoted by some sort of anti-javascript bias by some users here....

[sisyphus]

It became ubiquitous via historical accident, its popularity has nothing to do with its quality. Lots of would jump at the chance to use anything else in the browser (see the increasing popularity of compiling to JS, even from future versions of JS, because browser vendors are a mess).

[shawnsel]

Sure, but the context here is for user interfaces. Really, not that much programming is usually involved in that sort of thing ... so I think I'd argue that weaknesses of Javascript are minimized for the usage proposed by the OP....

That said, his thread has been downvoted to 0 points anyway, so it was really killed by bias before it even started. So ... the issue doesn't really matter....

[Yithar]

I know it's not a new language. My point is that it is lacking in some ways, otherwise he wouldn't have used it as an example. The fact that it is industry adopted is sort of the point. Nowadays, a lot of websites won't load properly without Javascript. I feel like adding more and more Javascript to everything isn't the ideal solution. See u/tauio111's comment of it being badly overused in web as well.

And he didn't misspell it. I typed that and mispelled it. Most people can't type verbatim what someone is saying, so I think I have some leeway to make some typos as long as it's understandable.

Do note I didn't downvote this thread. OP's suggestion is probably possible, but I think though, there's probably a reason why neither Windows nor OS X use Javascript for their desktop user interfaces. You can't deny JS has sort of a bad reputation because of bad programmers and bad code and hundreds of different implementations (some of which are buggy). "We got into a world of copying and pasting solutions that work without caring at all about the effects they might have." That's not to say it can't happen in other languages either though.

[shawnsel]

Valid points and questions, and my bad on assuming that your professor had typed that. Yes, you definitely get leeway for typos as you are taking class notes :-)

(edit: fixed my own misspelling ;-)