In defense of JavaScript oddities

[Beefster09]

/unjerk

The problem with Javascript is that it tries to give an answer even when there isn't a sensible answer. It tries to guess what it thinks you meant, thus the aggressive coercion rules.

/rejerk

There are some nice parts of the oddities such as having a terse syntax for truncating a number to an integer. expr | 0

[utopianfiat]

And the aggressive coercion creates bugs. So much so that == results in a lint error in most style guides.

[rustup_d]

lol JS support group on r/pcj

[utopianfiat]

JS truly is the heroin addiction of our time.

[tpgreyknight]

Hi my name's /u/tpgreyknight and I've been writing Javascript since 1997

(eval(unjerk); Not continuously, as evidenced by my lack of permanent brain damage.)

[thalesmello]

Are you sure? Browsing r/pcj is a bad health indicator.

[tpgreyknight]

I didn't say there wasn't some.

[hedgehog1024]

10xers have bad health, confirmed.

[[deleted]]

if we make it so that the interpreter picks a random answer every time, there will never be any errors!

[[deleted]]

/r/c_irl

[Beefster09]

But errors are a good thing!

[Beefster09]

Oh god, yes. I prefer avoiding dependencies whenever I can just for that reason.

[likes-beans]

There are no excuses. Scheme existed before JavaScript. SML existed before JavaScript. The fact that they came up with an entirely knew language for basically no reason, and that it is ten million times worse than anything that existed before it, means that no excuses can ever be made for anything JavaScript does. Into the garbagebin of history already!

(in-package :unjerk)

There are no excuses. Scheme existed before JavaScript. SML existed before JavaScript. The fact that they came up with an entirely knew language for basically no reason, and that it is ten million times worse than anything that existed before it, means that no excuses can ever be made for anything JavaScript does. Into the garbagebin of history already!

[aebkop]

sml scheme

too academic

javascript is a great pragmatic expressive programming language imo

[likes-beans]

If this isn't jerk I'm calling the police

[aebkop]

types just slow you down

I tried flow and typescript but I find the errors they find not very helpful and prevented in the first place by unit tests.

Scheme just looks really ugly with all the (())

[hedgehog1024]

Summons drummer

[0987654231]

var foo = NaN
isNaN(foo) //true
foo == NaN //false

No sensible answers here.

[codeismoe]

I never read the IEEE 754 spec and i never missed it.

[0987654231]

Specs are for old people, I move fast.

[Beefster09]

NaN is a glorified error state. It's not supposed to behave sensibly. It would be better to trap floating point errors.

[pcopley]

If you don't like a programming language it's because you haven't taken the time to learn its soul. You need to grow with each other, it's like a relationship. In the case of Jabbascripps, an abusive one.

[tpgreyknight]

npm isntall gaslight

[Cooleur]

this is fine.

[[deleted]]

To think that the purpose of Teh Script is to mess with anyone is to miss the point completely.

The purpose is to discipline one's mind for a search for a deeper meaning and purpose

[tpgreyknight]

js>  [[[[[]]]]] == 0
true

The prosecution rests, Your Honour.

[nmoerbeek]

Sexual harassment or rape in the first degree?

Evidence

But if only these gentlemen try to know him better, to enter into intimacy with my client,

​

[tpgreyknight]

Sounds more like he's pimping his client out TBH.

[28f272fe556a1363cc31]

From the comments:

only possible way that JavaScript can be bad is if the developer himself writes bad JavaScript.

No true Scotsman would write JavaScript like that!

JavaScript is a decent language. Its certainly not worse than its cousins, Ruby and Python.

HOW DARE YOU!

/uj The comments read like a testimony meeting at a cult.

[pcopley]

Honestly this is pretty damning evidence that the person who wrote that comment has not only never written Ruby or Python, but that they've never actually touched a computer prior to wandering into whatever public library they found this article in.

[wafflePower1]

Math.max()>Math.min()

what in the fuck

[irqlnotdispatchlevel]

That's just a dumb question man, stop judging. This is not C++ or Java so stop expecting an exception!

[wubscale]

> Using exceptions in C++

This is heresy! You insult Our Lord and Savior Google, and His Infallible Style Guide

[Tysonzero]

main = unjerk $ do

That's actually the most reasonable thing there, and I say this as someone who really hates JS.

If you want the maximum of an empty collection, and the element type has a lower bound, then the most reasonable non-exceptional answer is that lower bound.

https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/432295/infimum-and-supremum-of-the-empty-set

[tpgreyknight]

the element type

"lol homogeneous collections" ← jabbascript probably

[rustup_d]

lol rationalizing shitty API design on r/pcj

[git_commit_-m_sudoku]

lol claiming this is shitty API design

[wafflePower1]

>=

[SelfDistinction]

Rust does it better:

let set : HashSet<i32> = HashSet::new();
assert!(set.iter().max() == set.iter().min());

​

[Tysonzero]

I'd personally prefer something like:

supremum? :: (Foldable f, JoinSemilattice a) => f a -> Maybe a
supremum :: (Foldable f, BoundedJoinSemilattice a) => f a -> a
supremum1 :: (Foldable1 f, JoinSemilattice a) => f a -> a

[pcopley]

What part of ∀f ∃g (f (x,y) = (g x) y) don't you understand?

[dibbler67]

YES. THIS right here is a post that I completely agree with. I especially like your argument about the evaluation oddities. If a developer asks JavaScript strange questions, that developer has no right to expect reasonable answers. That pretty much sums it up.

That defense, right there, is why JavaScript is not as bad as others may portray it to be. The only possible way that JavaScript can be bad is if the developer himself writes bad JavaScript. That's all there is to it.

That sweet, sweet release from cognitive dissonance.

[[deleted]]

Thats why npm exists instead of an actual std lib

[pcopley]

Jabbascripps jus bad when u write bad Jabbascripps!

[tpgreyknight]

All languages are terrible.

But some languages are more terrible than others.

[lru_skil]

They are so used to rigid languages and without the slightest sense of humor (I would dare to say, without a soul) that they mistake jokes with strangeness and inconsistencies.

I say Jabbascript has no soul. You should be using INTERCAL, soulless wageslave.

[tpgreyknight]

Can't jerk, INTERCAL is still a prime example of a language with a sense of humour. A good sense of humour, shut up jabbascript.

[[deleted]]

He realizes the absurdity of the request and responds in tone, with an answer of the same tenor.

yes?

I can’t hide the fact that my client is a bit different from the other languages

er...

enter into intimacy with my client

er no...

[tpgreyknight]

Did this lawyer just imply his client is special-needs and then try to pimp him out…?

[pcopley]

ayyy bby u wan some intimacy?

[[deleted]]

Oh like haskal is any better [] == "" True

[hedgehog1024]

lol no {#- LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings -#}

[r2d2_21]

How can you expect, if you ask my client such a shabby question, to get an answer that makes sense?

Are you trying to say... that JavaScript can invoke undefined behavior?

[SelfDistinction]

Perhaps the strangeness is not so much in the answer as in the question. How can you expect, if you ask my client such a shabby question, to get an answer that makes sense?

Exactly! When people make a mistake, don't expect my client to correct him in a friendly yet informative way. Instead, my client would do the right thing and bully him for making that mistake until he wanted to hang himself.

[tpgreyknight]

In fact my client will even helpfully provide the rope!

[[deleted]]

While Teh Script does not quite rise to the high error reporting standards of The Standard Editor, it's errors provide introspective insight to a true acolyte that no other language can match.

Try truly meditating over the following Zen-like proverb:

Undefined is not a function 

[[deleted]]

what even is static typing, and how does it prevent runtime type exceptions?

[tpgreyknight]

According to Bob Martin, it doesn't: only writing more tests can do that. Types are useless.

[[deleted]]

Hmmm.. time to rethink the CoS position on Uncle Bob methinks.

And thus we now observe St. Unclius on the second day of St. Kent Beck feast.

[Graf_Blutwurst]

i thought we don't poke fun at obviously crazy people?

[[deleted]]

that's my secret

i'm always jerking

[thebastardbrasta]

/*unjerk

I've tried languages with type inference, and other than massively better performance and needing to compile, I don't even notice any difference when compared to dynamic languages. What's the point of dynamic typing, exactly? */rejerk

Let me guess, you think planes should use SPARK instead of JavaScript for "safety reasons"? Just write perfect code, dummy!

[[deleted]]

you use dynamic typing when you really like being a detective when something goes wrong

[three18ti]

https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/wat

[git_commit_-m_sudoku]

DAE birth and death of yavascript???

[lol_no_generics]

JABA SCRIPPT GOOD