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Comment by akavi | Hacker News Reader

Am I really that much of an outlier in loving coffeescript?

I know a lot of people don't like the extra translation effort to debugging, and some aren't fond of significant whitespace, but I'm surprised that that's enough to make it into the top 5 most dreaded. Is there something else I'm missing?

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My reaction to CoffeeScript over time:

CoffeeScript is shit, CoffeeScript is ok, CoffeeScript is great, CoffeeScript is ok, CoffeeScript is shit

I would assume it got "downvoted" by JavaScript developers that had to deal with it at some point.

(I personally prefer coffeescript)

Right there with you. I was generally aware (mostly from HN) that it seemed less popular than when I started using it -- but _dread_? Surprising. I really enjoy it.

I think dread is warranted. Seeing Coffescript is enough for me to completely disregard and abandon a project I otherwise perceived interesting.

Can I ask why? Just out of legitimate curiosity. I don't work with a lot of other developers.

I think it's ugly. It introduces uncertainty about the exact semantics of statements (as in does this code really do what I think it does?). It doesn't add any capabilities which JavaScript doesn't have. It makes debugging more complex, because errors are not actually happening in the code you wrote, but code a compiler wrote based on something else.

It introduces indirection and complexity, while adding zero value. As such it's on overall a negative value proposition, and that's everything it takes for me to decide something is not worth it.

I find it a perfectly rational decision and attitude.

While I'm not a fan per se, at least other transpired languages like typescript and clojurescript at least adds new capabilities to justify the additional complexity.

Definitely not calling you irrational - I really was just curious. I actually find your analysis pretty straight on. I realize now that part of the reason I like Coffeescript is because I like the way it looks! I'm more of a hobbyist, and haven't really had time to keep up with the latest developments in JavaScript, but I do understand a lot of the original reasons for CS may have been covered by the latest ES6.

Anyways, I do appreciate the response.

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