JavaScript: Future or Today

[Daveyon]

Working on the web, one should know little or more programming with JavaScript. In today's job requirement they would expect you know a little bit. While JavaScript turns your browser into an app-like software, you can interact with it very well; but what happens for older browser (you find these in banks etc) or it has been disabled in the browser. Surely it will not work.

As in my signature I am a ruby on rails fan boy but I struggle to deal with two personalities: back-end and front-end, where JavaScript would be the front-end. Ok working for a large company you may have two teams for the front and back but in this case, I'm referring to those who are full stack or works for themselves. Do you find it difficult or time consuming to code in two different languages: your main language plus JavaScript?

Meteor is a new framework that uses pure JavaScript but it works as an api. Although it's pure JavaScript I would say it's a Meteor-JavaScript (MeteorJs). I have played around with it, built a little app and am impressed but, there's just that but of using JavaScript without a fall back. That fall back would be "what if JavaScript does not load, what are the alternatives".

Learning a new framework is an investment but it's worth while knowing the language it uses future.

[owen]

Javascript as a language is not going to die. Meteor itself will die before Javascript. Javascript is basically a C variant. Coding in multiple languages is not a problem. I write games in C and Lua. I code webpages in 7 languages at the same time; HTML, CSS, SQL, PHP, OOP, Javacript, Jquery, XML, custom templating, INI files, etc all separate synthax and rules, you just have to learn the problem domain.

With experience every language becomes basically the same thing; loops, variables, input, output and synthax. There is no way to know how long a fad/language will last. You have be become a programmer first then a rails programmer second. The most you can do is look at the people who are using it and look at the projects they are producing. The C language is still around because it is a powerful language with no frills that is able to do many things (games, operating systems, embeded, webservers, anything). Meteor is limited to its domain and therefore is kinda stuck doing the little that it does.

There is value in learning the general gish behind it but no real need to go deeply in to it.

[Daveyon]

Yes you are right about JS not going anywhere but I Meteor won't for sure.

I was at a meetup here in the UK and overheard few people talking about Facebook is looking to invest in it. Not 100% sure how true is that though.

[owen]

what are using meteor for? you have anything up that we can look at?

[Daveyon]

what are using meteor for? you have anything up that we can look at?

Noting to show with Meteor. I've contributed to bug fixes only and played with it on my development laptop. I'm a Ruby on Rails guy.

[owen]

Noting to show with Meteor. I've contributed to bug fixes only and played with it on my development laptop. I'm a Ruby on Rails guy.

This is the typical answer I get from anyone who mentions node.js or meteor or anything similar. Lots of potential for potential stuff but much ado about nothing. I have coined a name for it "future geeks". I can never understand what the ultimate goal is.

And on the flip side you have the people who actually use the stuff but it takes so long to code that they spend 1 year planning updates.

[Daveyon]

This is the typical answer I get from anyone who mentions node.js or meteor or anything similar...

Correct. You'd agree that to write an application takes time and loads of investments. Meteor is new. No one really has a full production app; mostly startups will. Or should I say, no one would re-write their rails or php app in Meteor or any other new framework. But I do keep my eyes on it but so far I'm ok with Rails. ReactJs seems kick-***.

And on the flip side you have the people who actually use the stuff but it takes so long to code that they spend 1 year planning updates.

Yup. Same here. I have seen those people too.

[Satanforce]

This is the typical answer I get from anyone who mentions node.js or meteor or anything similar. Lots of potential for potential stuff but much ado about nothing. I have coined a name for it "future geeks". I can never understand what the ultimate goal is.

This seems to be the case with the various .js stuff. Remembering what you said a bout Bootstrap, and simple datepickers, much of what is being done with query, and all these .jses can be done with some so-so Javascript and some lines of CSS3.