* compile to native binaries
* many ways to do concurrency (instead of async all the way)
* a serious language (not created-in-10-days JS)
Node is really step back for me, coming from Ruby and the JVM.
It has improved, sure. But not only in the direction that makes me happy. But you cannot undo some bad design choices, without it becoming a different language.
> I would highly suggest [...]
I write JS at times. It hurts badly. Not everyone feels it. Maybe coming from PHP or Perl it does not even hurt that much. But after writing some Haskell and Elm lately, the pain got more intense.
> Asyncs simplicity is arguably a reason why it’s a good platform to build off of.
Not having choices is never a good thing in my book. And I do not think that JS does async particularly well. So much line noise when it comes to working with promises.
No fan here.
I don't know about PHP (my experience with it is limited), but coming from Perl, Perl is a breath of fresh air in comparison.
Then again, to me Haskell makes even the worst JAPH-style Perl one-liners look readable in comparison, so maybe I'm not the best judge of language design.
Though core.async makes async programming quite nice
Sure you can paint your cage gold, and it will look nicer. But it remains a cage. I want to choose, especially when it comes to how I do my concurrency.