Will Javascript Take Over the World? | Brian Kernighan and Lex Fridman

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Brian Kernighan is a professor of computer science at Princeton University. He co-authored the C Programming Language with Dennis Ritchie (creator of C) and has written a lot of books on programming, computers, and life including the Practice of Programming, the Go Programming Language, his latest UNIX: A History and a Memoir. He co-created AWK, the text processing language used by Linux folks like myself. He co-designed AMPL, an algebraic modeling language for large-scale optimization.
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[@nagualdesign]

When I started learning JavaScript 20 years ago I never imagined being able to write programs for mobile phones.

[@BrownOpsLeak]

zoidberg444 that’s your loss

[@goldanimal3931]

@@zoidberg444 take a strongly typed language

[@Morwha]

Let alone making desktop applications for Linux, Windows, and Mac with just JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. It is a powerful language

[@conorm2524]

I started JS 20minutes ago and can't imagine making apps or websites. I need some inspiration.

[@okie9025]

@@zoidberg444 yikes somebody shat in your cereal apparently. JS haters are so funny lol

[@shahrikamin4699]

“Any application that can be written in JavaScript, will eventually be written in JavaScript.” - Jeff Atwood

[@homelessengineer5498]

It's like a JavaScript version of Rule 34

[@caiomatheus817]

And will have a github repository about it.

[@kassios]

this is the absolute truth of the universe!

[@enriquesneffels3053]

best commentary ever!

[@dinobotpwnz]

Well it's Turing complete so that's everything.

[@cryto-alex5869]

It was such a pleasure listening to this genius (Brian) and what a fine personality he exhibits. You guys are so fortunate to have him at MIT. I also noticed he wears a $1 watch, which goes to show that the simple life is what counts.

[@tysully5245]

I enjoy your content, never stop exploring and learning

[@OsvaldoBayerista]

@@robbyz512 how many hours do you sleep?

[@laudbentil8184]

Great Episodes Lex! Keep up the amazing work!

[@joseortiz_io]

This is awesome! Glad to see you were able to interview him!

[@albin1568]

Seriously though, it boggles my mind how big the whole javascript web dev ecosystem is. I just know how to use some of the endless number of tools and frameworks, and that in and of itself takes time, and in another 5 years time the whole ecosystem is completely different XD

[@hornfan722]

Lex your clips!!!! Way to adapt to KZbin's common growth. Clips = digestable, and the long form is not mutually exlusive! This is a great clip for me a beginning coder curious about the broader subjects

[@johnli8662]

this video is very good.

[@spoddie]

It's a shame that people like Brian don't get the public recognition they deserve. Within comp sci of course he's well known, but his contribution to society isn't really well known.

[@MtSaEt]

Great content Lex!

[@1Thor61storm8]

How can I possibly say when people ask me that I know javascript when the writer of the most iconic C language book considers himself a non expert on the subject??

[@Crytoma]

Shame he considered himself retired at this point.

[@xenialxerous2441]

Awesome video really!! Worth watching the full length..!!

[@jerickodoggo9595]

As some one who learned Javascript in school. I was INFURIATED by libraries. I get super anxious if I don't understand how something is working in case it breaks... If you're working on a group project and you're the "programmer guy" for the team. If shit isn't working its definitely going to be your fault - or at least you should be able to fix it. As a new programmer, they really made me anxious when I was learning something from somebody and the first thing they say is," Alright before we get started download libraries x & y, etc..."

[@metallicbeast]

Thank you Brian, your contribution to humanity is huge, hats off to you good sir and I hope to invite you a beer if you visit Las Vegas.

[@jayartist_]

I hated JS when starting with it, as I came from working with Java and C#. Now I absolutely love it

[@zebrawien]

Javascript has its pros and cons. Thats about it. Use it wisely, it is a wonderful language.

[@dawidvanstraaten]

JavaScript is a con

[@okie9025]

@@dawidvanstraaten your birth was a con

[@BangMaster96]

Brian Kernighan, possibly one of the most important Computer Scientist in history

[@TheRealCasadaro]

Thanks Guys.

[@fytubevw]

The Python example of gazillion packages coming to the machine with a 'pip install' is good point. I found R to be slightly more succinct at least for very beginning steps in data science. But these are very early steps.

[@geoffreyschuchardt5350]

This was so helpful to hear!! I recently have started my first language with JavaScript and I’ve been thinking it seems a little rediculous how everyone just says to bulk download stuff for a website and that npm needs all this stuff but no one actually will dare to touch on what any of it does and I mean I’m sure there’s some people who know a lot or a little of it but it sorta makes sense you just gotta take what you get. I’ve also wondered about security concerns and I guess this sorta explained that too in a very easy and concise way :P it seems like a vast ocean where new people are trying to wade around until they can learn to scuba dive into the past but honestly that just feels so backwards. And I know you can learn the history of stuff and go from there but i mean all I know is that this field can’t be the fun it was for the original generations who were developing things completely new. It only makes sense that the barrier to entry was lower and hence more creative types were in the field rather than analytical people. Haha I might get flamed for that but my guess is most people would agree with it when you think about it

[@0xCAFEF00D]

A more worrying prospect than ai takeover.

[@BM-qb3oo]

@@funny-video-KZbin-channel javascript is not running any web services. It is not the basis of those services, it is the basis of the user's experience to that service.

[@marcellmonteirocruz2475]

I love javascript, and I think this needs to be the top comment, plz people make it happen :D

[@SahilP2648]

@@BM-qb3oo you sure about that? This page itself has so much javascript that it will boggle your mind

[@DustinSilva]

not even remotely worrying imo

[@BM-qb3oo]

@@SahilP2648 Yeah, on the client side you dopehead.

[@markw496]

Them: You probably don't want to program a nuclear power plant with Javascript. Me: Hold my beer.

[@djhart25]

2:25 makes me feel better about myself ha.. this has been one of my biggest hurdles learning to program

[@AbhishekSharma-el1nu]

"and down comes gazillion megabytes of something..". Kind of like the fact that he used MB. lol

[@martinisreb9502]

Lex’s videos are probably the only videos on KZbin with no down-likes 💯

[@surferriness]

Third semester IT students be like: "OMG He's literally me!!"

[@exvimmer]

I know JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Go and C and I'm learning other languages while I'm keeping myself updated. I love JavaScript, but I think TypeScript will be more important than JS, because of its types and strictness.

[@johnroach7607]

"That's a very perceptive kind of question." - thank you Lex

[@mattpeachey1210]

You both made some very interesting points about the "package" mentality of modern programming. That being said, I wonder if you see any value in the open-source nature of these packages? Do the benefits of having a large community constantly iterating and improving a specific package outweigh the issues you mentioned in this clip?

[@chandranshpandey1929]

big companies knows the power of open source

[@conforzo]

2:53 He gave words to my endless fever dreams...

[@OwenFernau]

Wow the part about working with libraries resonates so hard. That's the only way I've done any programming and it felt the opposite of holistic.

[@johnli8662]

very good

[@nordwarp]

Although it has some ugly bits, I'm totally in love with JS, I'm sticking to it and I don't care whether it takes over the world or some powerplant (this is where I'm gonna be sarcastic about your sarcasm, haha)

[@enriqueflorendo]

Es6

[@arik_dev]

@@enriqueflorendo Typescript

[@Soremwar]

ES11. TypeScript needs some serious improvement if it wants to keep relevant IMHO

[@slapmyfunkybass]

JS is the biggest pile of coding crap I’ve seen. It’s take on oop has so much sugar coating on it anyone thinking they’re using real oop is in denial.

[@enriqueflorendo]

slapmyfunkybass said by the haters cause JS slowly taking over everything.

[@TheHamoodz]

Here is the thing though, as a robotics engineer working entirely in C and C++, I find coding in JavaScript to be a much more FUN experience. Would I use it for my robotics applications? Of course not. But if I'm trying to make a quick demo or code up a weekend project or have some sort of interactive application, I find JavaScript to be the way to go.

[@TheMrVogue]

Exactly, this is what js excels at. Decent performance, especially with all the threading it's doing under the hood, and very free in terms of style, which allows you to write decent code fast. (obviously some styles are superior to others, and some are more elegant, but less performant... I'm looking at you functional methods :p) but it definitely takes away a lot of low level control that less abstracted languages provide, which is crucial in certain applications... And dynamic typing while convenient is a double edged sword

[@linchenpal]

Exactly!

[@arpanacharya1318]

Raspberry Pi & Node.js ?

[@0o0o00o00000]

The latest spaceX shuttle UI was built in JS.

[@agent-sz2qj]

Really ?

[@peppigue]

I'm thinking one may build critical stuff in high level language if one tests and tests and tests and gets it right. But supercritical stuff needs to be so perfect that lower level coding is necessary. One still needs lots of testing, but the code is transparent and easier too foolproof.

[@0o0o00o00000]

agent 47 Yes. JS is a pretty legit language despite the hard critique Brian gives it. It does have some security issues but knowing what they are helps a lot. When it comes to installing packages. It sounds like Brian did not use JS much and resorted to installing packages for most of what he did but he does have a valid point. It can certainly be risky.

[@0o0o00o00000]

Petter Nybråten maybe something like that. JS is used in a lot of areas like this but maybe for more life critical code they do resort to something more low level? Idk though....I can’t say I know everything but, to your point, a language does what you tell it to do. If you’re using JS don’t pull in a package for everything 😆

[@0o0o00o00000]

I agree. Tests are key. Most languages can be used for just about anything but sometimes choosing a language based on the task at hand is necessary.

[@Huy_Nguyen_USA]

Typescript gives JavaScript syntactic sugar to make it palatable. I'm seriously looking into web assembly.

[@coolworx]

First class functions and closure is what makes JS extraordinary despite it's numerous warts.

[@vetiarvind]

Agree it's a functional programming language.

[@MijanurRahman-jo1st]

In web development JavaScript is best than any other languages yet.

[@mithunparab1244]

.js : front end .js: back end ;) Nuclear power plant using JavaScript 😆😂

[@wmd5645]

Im sure the hardened IC's are driven from a web browser.

[@vasy4321]

I would, just not random npm libs

[@kvartlapp9724]

"Nuclear power plant using JavaScript". Thank you very much for this, there will be no sound sleep this week.

[@david6099]

The software running that plant would be no more complicated than a modern day backend api lol Node.js could probably run it faster and more efficiently than python

[@joech1065]

”Cannot read property 'reactorCooling' of undefined” - Mommy, why daddy has no hair and his skin peels off his face when touch I him? - Javascript

[@JM-jc1vz]

Lex as a Lisp guy you gotta get Sussman and Abelson on!

[@VetorDigital]

Things like WebAssembly, Blazor, etc are already making a dent into the web universe and its getting momentum fast, so hopefully the days of JavaScript are numbered

[@vikramkrishnan6414]

Yes, there are a crap ton of lousy npm packages (less so in my experience in pip). However, BK is assuming that coding from scratch would introduce fewer bugs than a library that has millions of eyeballs on it, and I am not sure that is necessarily true. IMHO, in-house libraries and frameworks have uniformly been more buggy and painful to use relative to the publicly available ones

[@keffbarn]

Agree, problem is not the usage of packages and a package manager. The problem is making sure to use a good quality package, and the chance of doing that is a lot higher with something open source on npm with hundreds of contributers and some company backing then an in house package, developed by that one guy that is probably not working at the same company anymore.

[@mattpen7966]

correct, i dont think BK is suggesting we code from scratch either but he should've highlighted what you said about eyeballs.

[@metalalive2006]

Clean architecture, good quality of code also matters in any library while you have to debug with the library you are using , without documentation and community support

[@mattpen7966]

@@metalalive2006 typically third party libraries in js are open source and community maintained so you can see the architecture yourself and its maintained by many others.

[@OFfic3R1K]

That is an illusion we'd all so much want to be true. The ugly truth of open-source is that your assumption of having "millions of eyeballs on it" doesn't necessarily translate to constant quality contributions. Lack of funding, wish of original developers to move on and other factors have proven that you should not blindly rely on community of "others" keeping libraries in a good condition. When everyone is responsible, nobody is responsible. Heartbleed was a great example of that. Thankfully key IT companies and foundations have started numerous projects to change that, to keep people interested and to support important libraries financially. But I am afraid that an npm package that gets stale for one reason or another in the dependency tree might cause havoc on this whole industry.

[@OFfic3R1K]

_"JavaScript was seen as probably the ugliest language possible"_ I must admit that syntactic sugar and spread of libraries that restrict developers to a certain way of thought has improved "the JavaScript experience", but there are still so many ways you can shoot yourself in the foot and write absolutely insane spaghetti code that I still don't recognize JavaScript as being on par with other "classic" languages. And I write JS code daily.

[@Daniel_WR_Hart]

I wouldn't mind so much if it wasn't so relaxed when it came to implicit type coercion, but ES6, optional chaining, and nullish coalescing made me like it more than Java. On the plus side TypeScript is now native to Deno and Bun.

[@burakdev]

if something doesn't work... just "pip install this..." LOL He just described my problem solving method with python. 🤣🤣

[@kelbiekelbie909]

Indeed, you do not want to use JavaScript to run a nuclear powerplant but most people don't run nuclear powerplants. Most people just want to create a cool animation for their website.

[@vanillaslice1945]

Absolutely, I don't think they were out to disparage it in any way. Just commenting on it's evolution and it's potentials.

[@spidey677]

JS cannot be used to make native mobile apps. It has its major drawbacks

[@kelbiekelbie909]

@@spidey677 React Native can handle most of what you want to acheive in a mobile app and it doesn't prevent you from writing native Java/Swift if need be.

[@spidey677]

@@kelbiekelbie909 Ok, re-make me Mortal Kombat 11 on mobile using React Native.

[@kelbiekelbie909]

@@spidey677 no

[@whiskeyburns5230]

Deno is basically made to tackle everything that node lost in.

[@fullstack_journey]

Deno will take time to pick up pace but I really hope it does. Cuz typescript is everything what JavaScript couldn't be..

[@gajiodea]

Will?

[@miraclo3]

I 100% credit the advancement of JavaScript towards the script kitties playing games like RuneScape and learning to code as children growing up and going to college and learning to use and abuse this language in ways that we never thought of before.

[@Soremwar]

Like me? Or like the Facebook guys (Hermes Engine and JS contributors)? Or like the Google guys (V8 engine and JS contributors)? Or like the Microsoft guys (TypeScript and JS contributors)? Or the Mozilla guys (SpiderMonkey engine, owners and contributors of the language)? Or the Amazon guys(JS contributors)? Or the TC39 guys (JS committee for updates and contributions)? Just cause you don't like the language doesn't mean it's a child's toy, or non-relevant now that (arguably) better technologies started competing with it

[@okie9025]

Says the "script kittie".

[@bluedragon4168]

No idea why I'm watching this in the middle of the night instead of sleeping

[@user-dy6bv3vi7o]

Python: Am I a joke to you?

[@Whirlwind03]

Yes

[@prathamyadav3105]

Python is second only to JavaScript.

[@chandrashekard.7543]

In terms of growth, JavaScript seems to be growing faster.

[@r3n736]

@@prathamyadav3105 PHP is the king of backend through. w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/programming_language/ms/y Javascript growth in the backend has been a disappointment through. I predicted 2 years ago Javascript would surpass Python in the backend and still have not happened.

[@gigik64]

Oh God, that'd be hell of dystopian nightmare.

[@okie9025]

You're already living in it. Hell, you couldn't have written this comment without JS.

[@valizeth4073]

@@okie9025 It could, if Js didn't exist. Another language would have been used. A language is a tool that should fit the application and not the other way around

[@user-up8pd6id9s]

This notion that you have no idea what you're pulling down via pip or npm is completely false, it's highly encouraged to look at the code you're adding to your app. You don't simply google, install and then hope it all works out - you have to dig into the libraries, compare options and figure out if it's what your project needs.

[@Nicxlive]

Only thing I strongly disagree, JavaScript is not ugly, it is beautiful

[@zoloftdependant5246]

i always feel a little offended whenever people say mean things about javascript, not because i think its a good language, but because i like making money

[@mymusic7262]

Yes it was fun building from scratch.

[@coolemur976]

2:07 wait until Brian will hear about Deno and its standard libraries. 3:10 there are security issues with any programming language. 3:08 if you don't understand how third party libraries work, you will definitely won't understand how standard libraries work. 2:00 building libraries on top of each other is just how programming work. You write code using provided standard libraries (that might have their own security issues and bugs), or you can write code using available third party libraries, or you can write everything yourself.

[@curiousMe1000]

Lets see how well this video matures. When power plants actually start running on Js.

[@okseaj]

JS is great for getting something up and running fast, but I think long term it is not a very sustainable choice. And in general, as neat of a language it is, JS has so many frustrating properties that make it difficult to deal with. If I want to experiment and hack something together, it's fine. If I want to write robust software, then I want something more structured and opinionated. As great as Node.js is, NPM is a mess and I don't want to write software that relies on this style of package management. This is why I prefer something like Go - you have to be explicit in how you write your code and most things you need come right out of the box.

[@dunisanisambo9946]

That’s the only thing I hate about JavaScript, I always feel like I am not in control but makes sense because functional programming is becoming mainstream.

[@data7315]

SpaceX runs Javascript on Clientside in the Crew Dragon Space Capsule for the Astronaut Graphical Userinterface. Boeing does not and stranded with its Starliner Capsule because of a potential catastrophic Softwaere bug^^

[@justinoneill2837]

couldn't agree more on npm packages.. you really have no idea what you're getting. npm now tells you about "risky" packages and gives you the ability to "audit"

[@_smhmd]

When people were faced with importing from URLs in Deno, they were shocked to discover that nothing really had changed.

[@ricosrealm]

and how is this better than any open source software from any other language/platform? You'll have to always get your software from well-maintained reputable sources.

[@_smhmd]

@かわいいreo It furthered the culture of wariness and tore down a facade, fixing the big node_modules issue in the process and decentralizing module distribution.

[@Soremwar]

@かわいいreo Since it is based in the more modern JavaScript vision and ecosystem most of the useless dependencies are removed from the modules written for Deno. So even though it didnt aimed for it, it improved a lot the module design mentality

[@immortaljanus]

I'm a proficient Python user. The first day on the new job (Big Data + ML), the senior developer tells me: "99% of our ETL is in JS." Oh brother...

[@pguti778]

I do envy you!! Talking to Brian!!!!

[@ashiamonteiro4886]

Dude...so your 'passion' project is entering into the realm of dharma. From a brother

[@delicious_seabass]

When hell freezes over.

[@e.h.5680]

Exactly. JavaScript is on its deathbed thanks to WebAssembly.

[@orderla8877]

2:40 "me and coding" in a nutshell😂

[@jacquesduplessis6175]

Npm actually scares me. I've learned to get along with javascript, it's not so bad, but I have seen some strange pieces of code that you can only create in JS though.

[@0xCAFEF00D]

I feel that lots of things shouldn't be written as poorly as it is. I find that in my general use of software reliably and performance is what I miss the most. I question every day why there's apps on my phone that takes many seconds to load to display colored boxes and text (no heavy assets like big images/video). Can we not hold a higher standard than that? There needs to be better understanding of computation waste and we need to judge software harsher for failing. And why shouldn't the specs of a 10 year old phone offer flawless performance in those circumstances? People actually buy new phones to improve their experience. And we've all written more efficient and robust software than this before. Why not keep doing that? It's not entangled with Javascript specifically. But absent moving to new languages (like wasm, hopefully. Or native) I don't see a future that fulfills these ideals with languages like JS.

[@joech1065]

Reliability and performance? WASM? Oh, I have a language just for you. It's called Rust and it is as good as they describe it in love poems on Hackernews. It is like as if Haskell had a baby with c++ and took performance of the latter with safety and abstractive power of the former. I think it is very possible to have languages that have all three: speed, safety, and productivity. But Rust is the first example that manages to get all three. c++ has speed but not safety. Haskell has safety but not speed (even when it fast it has latency due to GC). JS has memory safety, but no good enough type system to guarantee elimination of most bugs, like Haskell or Rust do. Also, performance benefit from safety. Ironically, one can say that c and c++ don't have maximum speed because due to lack of safety it is impossible to write large scale high performance parallel code in them. Projects like Firefox tried it several times and they failed. You need a very good type system that can handle reasoning about memory safety and data races, because it is very hard to plug all holes and reason about all the ways parallel code can run into problems. And fighting bugs in either category can kill a project because they can be incredibly time wasting to debug.

[@_smhmd]

It strikes me that you are commenting on SPAs and client-side javascript, but in my experience, there is nothing more slow on a regular basis than a WordPress website (probably built by a non-coder.) You can't democratize web development and hold it to the highest of standards. I'm not against neither.

[@MijanurRahman-jo1st]

@@_smhmd Right

[@SahilP2648]

Well that's the thing though. You can very efficiently use memory and computing power if you are coding it in C++ assuming you have all the libraries needed. But C++ is super difficult to code in and one cannot be productive with it. But because of languages at a higher abstraction layer than C++, it has become easier and productive to develop apps in. Depending on the scenario, it will be java, C#, python or javascript. No one apart from the gaming industry uses C++ and it uses specifically because of the need for optimized code in games. So yeah it is a sad reality that a normal app is nowadays 200MB in size and consumes perhaps the same or more RAM, for no apparent reason, while a movie with decent quality starts from 1-2GB. But because of this you are getting sweet animations and features in the app and overall 10000x more productivity in your project.

[@peppigue]

I'm just getting started with programming, having focused on c++ first. I think the same as you re slow apps, and I'm realizing now how monstrous the coding world is, with all the library utilisation that is modern coding which makes creating easier and optimization harder. At least some apps like Twitter are fast, and I bet we will see significant improvements as companies realize what a difference speed alone makes in the ux.

[@NickGled]

That suit is getting a bit tight. Looking well from all that training Lex! Well done.

[@tempprofile6715]

I think the Reactive programming in JavaScript has been the game-changer. Spring Boot (Java) now has WebFlux to bring this to Java. I have heard a lot of good things about Python yet I find it difficult to switch from my current preferred language (aka the only language I know well) Java. Whenever new programmers ask me as I say learn Python or JS and that Java is not for everyone.

[@r3n736]

You should look into C# and .Net 5. Which I think is the future and Microsoft doing really good lately with VSCode, Typescript and now they own github as well.

[@r3n736]

​@@redsnflr Javascript only has 1% of market share in the backend and still have a long way to dominate the backend. PHP is currently the king. 2020 Sept 7 backend server-side usage: PHP: 78.9% ASP.net: 9.8% Python: 1.4% Javascript: 1% Currently, Python is JS competitor in the backend. I predicted that JS would surpass Python in the backend 2 years ago and didn't happen. Personally for Backend I would bet on C# .Net 5 which will be released this year and will become huge in the coming years. Now Golang, Rust, Erlang are interesting yet their market share is not even 0.1%. Unless you live near a Tech city or plan to move to one I would not recommend them.

[@r3n736]

@@abbosshamsiddin Do research on job posts in your area and see what have more job openings, this depends on your area as well what you plan to do, if you want job or start business or be freelancer etc.

[@mikestaub]

Javascript has already taken over. But it is just a compile target now that we have babel and typescript.

[@sujitkumarsingh3200]

Risks involved in writing code for nuclear power station or to take over the world using any programming language are equal if you are unaware of the codes being used in your application.

[@yassinraki6280]

I wish he's my grandpa 😹💔

[@mitchwilson1969]

Yes.

[@itsaaron6423]

I've learnt JavaScript and must say it's a very interesting language .

[@gowthamsundar7857]

You could actually pick up typescript instead since JS infinitely better with it

[@burstromeric]

Many people use JavaScript Python like Laura Croft Tomb Raiders but eventually have to give up it will change it will not be hype, (i like hype especially when it fails in social circumstances).

[@JonnyBeoulve]

I work on a full stack JavaScript stack on a significantly large codebase for a fortune 500 company. Javascript is absolutely taking over the world.

[@frogaaopillmanoddd985]

yes you are the greatest, now take your pills and shut up, madhouse staff coming soon and taking care of you

[@bytesizedfeed]

People forget how much backlash there was with C from the assembly language ppl, same story with JavaScript and the C/C++ ppl. performance for JS will come in due time and if there is a selective pressure for it in the market

[@RankMotion]

Remember that the first attempt for creating apps in the browser was with Java, the dumb sister of C++, but it failed miserably, then JS was invented

[@d3j4v00]

Jawascript sounds like a winner

[@onepunchman8721]

When JavaScript will get an arbitrary precision decimal type, it will take over ML and will be more important than ever You will see!

[@mr_cupcakes1808]

Answering the question : typescript is sweet af, so I'd say maybe, at least the commercial world

[@RhettReisman]

This man is older than Joe Biden. Let that sink in.

[@mattmmilli8287]

That is a smart answer about dependencies and black box. What IS webpack up to 😂

[@freemanfreed1581]

so what was the answer to the question??

[@XKS99]

We can only hope Webassembly will turn back the untyped hordes and save the world.

[@TheVincent0268]

It will. Microsoft implemented it with Blazor. Many none-JS programmers can make rich web clients now.

[@XKS99]

Vincent I’m using Blazor (server side) on a project right now. We are evaluating running onwebassembly. This doesn’t change the fact that webassembly still has 0.001% of the adoption of even typescript.

[@TheVincent0268]

@@XKS99I can't look into the future but I give WebAssembly/Blazor a good chance to become a first class citizen. An important difference with for example Silverlight that it is not some MS plugin, but a well thought of runtime that it is adopted by the major browsers. I think Wasm and JS can live happily together.

[@autohmae]

@@TheVincent0268 I'm actually on the Javascript side. But Rush compiled to WebAssembly probably might make more sense.

[@meamzcs]

Jup... Let's pray for it to happen... JS will always be a part of the web and for small sites it does the job but hopefully WASM can establish itself as another option with widespread browser support so that you don't need to write big webapps in JS anymore or compile to it...

[@tristangruener9571]

Space X used javascript (react) for the Dragon capsule UI.... not bad!

[@andrew.r.lukasik]

That was the only time I was seriously dissapointed by SpaceX. Imagine alien civilization finding that capsule... they would conclude we're total morons. Ugh, what a shame.

[@enriqueflorendo]

React ftw

[@jimothyus]

Cant beat the browser when it comes to UI

[@SahilP2648]

@@andrew.r.lukasik well actually almost all the UI today is designed with HTML, CSS and JS. Even the UI on your phones is designed with a combination of these 3 languages. And React sits on top of JS so yeah.

[@andrew.r.lukasik]

​@@SahilP2648 HTML+CSS+X is useful and popular indeed. But. Not thanks to virtues of JS necessarily. Maybe being a decent MVC pattern has something to do with it's success. Maybe.

[@S3aCa1mRa1n]

So should I learn python or java ? Java script.

[@oldcountryman2795]

"Will Javascript Take Over the World?" Oh God, I hope not. WebAssembly please. I remember a computer science professor in the '90s telling me that someday all software would be written in Java because it was portable.

[@mradminus]

Well what about all the fuss about webassembly(Wasm)? (not a programmer).

[@TimBlokdijk1983]

Wasm is still new/experimental tech with a lot of sharp edges, give it a few years. (programmer)

[@mradminus]

@@TimBlokdijk1983 OK, thank you for the answer.

[@iancolledge7769]

Its racist bcos too difficult (nigga)

[@shubhamdwivedi7766]

He says correct I agree you don't know what things bloat is installed while installing libraries and they won't run most of the times as expected only if you are lucky 😅

[@JG_1998]

I for one would love to see a javascript based nuclear power plant. Just for the laughs.

[@Pete_YT]

SpaceX use JavaScript with Web Components for their user interfaces, including what astronauts use in the Dragon Crew. Tracking the dependencies and libraries as not as big deal as described in this video, that is what the package.json and lock file is for.

[@ER-sf4zo]

I have to agree with you. And I thought the comments made about python to be a bit shallow. Python has pip lock files. That's why we have documentation and requirement files. Dependancies and abstraction exist on multiple levels in programming. Great talk nonetheless however he is showing that even an expert veteran in the programming world sometimes doesn't know what he's talking about and relies on his larger then life reputation to make blanket statements. I have a great deal of respect for the man tho. Lex does ask great questions at times.

[@CortezBumf]

Really, all JS needs is a standard lib like other C based langs have.

[@debanjanbarman7212]

Ya just to make the UI, Rest of the thing is done with C++

[@TheMrVogue]

@@CortezBumf those are what the built in classes and methods are though. You can get *really* far without using most packages, and if you only use the most prolific packages/frameworks you usually won't go wrong

[@TheMrVogue]

@@debanjanbarman7212 While you can run your web app's backend with a C++ compiled application, it's not a quick way to solve large problems. Although I'm sure there are plenty of frameworks that defy my statement 😂. It'll sure be fast as fuck though (as long as you don't do something stupid optimization wise)

[@LukeAvedon]

RUN A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT WITH JAVASCRIPT!

[@Grahfx]

Javascript is how the world works nowadays: it's mediocre but convenient.

[@Eph2ate]

So sophisticated...but he says “Liberries” ??!! 1:45

[@cryptosfool]

Let history record the greatness of the Human Brain --JavaScript.

[@anthonyleonard]

alert("Thank You!");

[@LUISGARCIA-wn4hj]

For someone that is into GIS (Geographical Information System/Science), would a Data Visualization course (learn Javascript/D3) be preferred over a Machine Learning course?

[@morkmon]

Yeah I think so, JavaScript has its warts but d3 is very good at what it does. I think The Coding Train here on KZbin has some good tutorials

[@LUISGARCIA-wn4hj]

@@morkmon yeah i think it looks amazing. The only thing im concerned about is the learning curb. While i know that machine learning can be difficult, given that I dont have all the basic mathematical concepts (linear algebra,etc..) down, it seems that one can get by it. With data viz, seems like learning JS and learning how D3 could be a bigger hill to climb.

[@morkmon]

@@LUISGARCIA-wn4hj Yeah I found d3 hard to learn, the way the library is supposed to be used is very different from regular JavaScript, so the learning curve is real. I've also done some machine learning which is hard in a different way. Lots of trial and error, cleaning data, long iteration loops because you need to train stuff. At least d3 is very direct, because the results are immediately visible on screen. machine learning seems (to me) to have a different learning curve, where the most basic tutorials are very accessible and easy, but getting beyond amateur playing around seems very hard and a lot of results seem very hard to reproduce. wondering if others have had the same experience.

[@kassios]

These are two different paths! It really depends on your interests and goals. Ultimately a Machine Learning expert will earn more than a front end developer, although good programmers with strong visualisation abilities are also hard to find. A great tutorial on D3 is this one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpvZoIeMapmhjtk

[@SerenityReceiver]

Despise (the proliferation of ) JS for 15+ years now.

[@marcuswaterloo]

The missile knows where it is at all times.