• MyNameIsRichard@lemmy.ml
    3·
    1 year ago

    When JavaScript was first released, it was a god-send. The alternative was vbscript and if you think JavaScript is bad…

    • lucidwielder@kbin.social
      1·
      1 year ago

      Very true. I remember vbscript. I still have to write some occasionally. What’s funny is that powershell gets all the attention & security applied to it - but vbscript likely keeps its flaws in the name of backwards compatibility. I’m betting vbscript is a huge attack vector just waiting for some major exploitation that leads to its removal or being severely gimped.

        • MajorHavoc@lemmy.world
          1·
          1 year ago

          Correct.

          To get a feel for what VBScript was like, think of Visual Basic. Now throw out all the good bits and mix in a bunch of JavaScript style quirks.

          Then try to parse binary data packets with it, beacuse XML isn’t widely supported and JSON has not been invented/discovered yet.

          It was bad.

        • allywilson@sopuli.xyz
          1·
          1 year ago

          Correct. You know how JavaScript is not Java? Same thing. If memory serves me correctly there was a bit of a race to be the next Windows script language between NT4 and 2000 (to replace batch), and it was between VBScript and Kixtart (the former won out).

  • MajorHavoc@lemmy.world
    2·
    1 year ago

    In this thread: A lot of developers who don’t understand that my burning hatred of VBScript, and JavaScript’s subsequent redemption of my sanity - do not combine to cause me any less bunring hatred toward JavaScript.

    Yes, the meme is objextively false. I was there, and none of us dressed that well.

    Cliff notes for any newbies trying to navigate what to think of all this:

    • VBScript was deeply flawed.
    • JavaScript is deeply flawed.
    • TypeScript exists for a bunch of really good reasons.
    • Old programmers only bitch about new technology and old technology.
    • To get as much hate at JavaScript gets, it has to be useful. JavaScript is incredibly useful.
  • palordrolap@kbin.social
    1·
    1 year ago

    In 1994, CGI back-ends were the closest thing to interactivity in the browser, and that’s far back enough that a good deal of it was written in C. Strong typing abounds!

    But JavaScript was an absolute joy by comparison. Heck, even Perl CGI was a joy compared to having to write executables for every fricking thing.

    Note that by JavaScript, I mean the mostly hand-crafted stuff in earlier sites, not the enormous frameworks that are in use these days.

    • fibojoly@sh.itjust.works
      1·
      1 year ago

      Hear, hear! In 1998, I did my work experience at a local ISP and was tasked with coding a backend that would create accounts for people wanting to buy an internet subscription from us.
      IIS was still in beta so my boss decided I would use Linux, this new fangled language called PHP and just write a CGI in C that would do the actual creation of accounts on our server (IIRC).
      I spent a few weeks on a console terminal, using vi, doing C; which was as abominable as one might expect. PHP was fucking magic, in comparison. And on the front-end, I used a bit of JavaScript to add some interaction and reactivity and that was just fun!

      Heck, seventeen years later and I still think it’s a fun language to use.

      Anyway I don’t know where in was going with this… you kids don’t know how good you have it, is what I’m saying.

    • argv_minus_one@beehaw.org
      1·
      1 year ago

      There are plenty of things wrong with the tool itself.

      For example, there is no way to define an equality and hash function for a class, so there is no sensible way to use arbitrary data structures as Map keys.