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willvarfar 409 days ago | link | parent

It is surely subjective. Not the person you reply to but I'll chip in anyway.

I write lots of Javascript; mostly 'raw' Javascript in the webGL space. Here's just of the top of my head what's wrong with Javascript:

* looping over elements has too much boilerplate

* the mindfulnesss of 'this' is distracting

* the duality of dictionaries and lists and how that's an easy lie to fall for is fustrating

* that there are multiple frameworks trying to use $

On the other hand, their anonymous functions are very nice. And, I rather like prototypes vs classes. A bit. Sometimes

With Python, I like significant whitespace (so sue me) and especially the syntax for collections and packing/unpacking them.

I've blogged along these lines a lot in the past e.g. http://williamedwardscoder.tumblr.com/post/18319031919/progr...

jashkenas 409 days ago | link

With that particular list of features and complaints, you may want to take a quick look at CoffeeScript. It addresses everything on the list except for the "multiple frameworks trying to use $" bit.


acjohnson55 409 days ago | link

I think the $ point is a bit soft anyway. With jQuery, it's easy enough to just use non-conflict mode.


sim0n 409 days ago | link

It's not often you want to use two libraries that both use $ anyway (e.g. you'd use jQuery OR prototype, Zepto OR MooTools - not usually both).


willvarfar 408 days ago | link

Funnily enough, it was trying to use a box2d port that used prototype in an app that already used jquery that raised my hackles most recently...

