Many people know javascript, so when they want to build something, they use the language they already know.
Atwood's Law: “Any application that can be written in JavaScript, will eventually be written in JavaScript.”
It's just how the universe works.
Corollary: and then rewritten in Rust. Right?
Because it's a great language that many people use every day.
JavaScript is one of the programming languages of all time.
/s?
Sometimes the truth sounds unbelievable.
I actually agree with that. Javascript has a good heart. Just wish they'd stop trying to add classes to the language.
I've found closures can execute faster but classes take less memory and instantiate faster. Though rarely it matters.
Closures are nice. I'm a fan of simple objects with prototypes myself.
I don't know how people can say that JS is a great language with a straight face. Sure it has a lot of advantages mostly due to how widespread it is. But it's really obviously not a great programming language by itself...
Fwiw I think JavaScript is quite good. Also I think TypeScript is the best programming language I’ve ever used (and I’ve used a lot of them).
Reality: JS is a great language, and that's why it won. The idea that it's merely the case that it was everywhere and that that is the reason it won is something that people who are sore tell themselves to avoid grappling with the truth. JS's ubiquity (a) was neither a fait accompli, and (b) is insufficient to completely explain its success—it only explains it if you're willing to overlook a lot of confounding factors.
It's relatively easy and omnipresent. Arguably the only indispensable programming language, at least for the foreseeable future.
> Arguably the only indispensable programming language.
I'd put my money on C, almost everything is bootstrapped from it.
Forth is a another candidate if you'd have to build everything yourself.
JS is a language I can cobble together something hacky in and I don't have to care about types or anything yet, just making something work. It's fun! :)