I’m on JavaScript kick lately. Or rather, I have been rediscovering it ever since I read the series of Steve Yegge’s blog posts on JS and Rhino and his predictions for the next big language. I really think he is right - JS will be the next big thing that will trump Ruby from it’s pedestal or at least become its viable competitor as the next big dynamic scripting behemoth. Why? I think a better question is: why not? It almost seems like this language is destined for greatness.
For one, JavaScript or rather ECMAScript is really a kick-ass language if you look at it objectively. When I say JavaScript most people automatically think about the client-side, browser dependent, inconsistent scripting language which only works half of the time. But this is not really the fault of the language but inconsistent implementation of the DOM model across different browsers.
Internally the language is really consistent, flexible, readable and fun to use. Not only does it have most of the cool features that are all the rage now (ducktyping, closures, variadic functions, prototypes, metaprogramming end etc..) but reads a lot like C. The syntax is full of the familiar and lovely brackets and semicolons that we all know and love (or hate) and all the control sequences and language constructs follow the familiar C patterns. Coding in JavaScript is really a lot like coding in Java only 5 times less verbose which is a good thing.
And when it comes to shuffling around HTML or XML data there is no other language that is both so good at it, and so well documented. We have been using it for that purpose decades now and nothing else compares. No other language can be used int the online so effectively and seamlessly.
Also, Javascrip has something that neither Python nor Ruby possess - a real spec. So it is really a good language - a Language with capital L. It is just burdened with a bad stigma of being a browser specific toy language.
This stigma is slowly dissipating as the Web 2.0 craze is raging on. I don’t care who you are right now - if you are doing any web development right now, you have to deal with Javascript whether you want it or not. You can avoid it, you can claim you are server side guy but if you want to be competitive right now your web app needs to use AJAX and if it is, then Javascript is becoming a big internal part of your code base. You can hide behind a framework, and have it generate AJAX code for you the way RoR does, but sooner or later you will have to do something complex and will end up hacking on js files. Whether you love it or hate it - you will be exposed to it at some point.
So your code is now roughly half Javascript and Half something else which is a bit messy, but that’s Web 2.0 for you. Does it have to be that way though? Of course not. You don’t need a dedicated client side language ad another dedicated server side language. You could really do all your scripting on both sides with Javascript. Yes, Server Side Javascript is not a joke or some pipe dream - it is reality. Believe it or not, but there is a lot of development going on in this area - there are tons of projects out there which use JS on the server side.
These projects range from very simple to very complex full featured solutions. For example, mod_js is an Apache module loosely based on Perl’s CGI.pm which implements ECMAScript on the server side. It is astonishingly simple, and compact but also very immature project.
If you want something more robust and mature there is Jaxer - a self contained Java based server which supports server side scripting in Javascript. The whole idea behind this environment is unifying your code base. With Jaxer you can use the very same language to query the database, dynamically rearrange the HTML output, and make asynchronous calls back to the server. Added bonus is that it is bundled with the very popular Aptana IDE (aka. the Eclipse for web designers) which means it is already near ubiquitous.
If you are allergic to Eclipse and it’s forks and you like NetBeans then Phobos is probably what you will want to sink your teeth into. It uses Glassfish server and uses Javascript as it’s default server side language. Same concept, different approach. The project seems to be mature, well supported and have a big community.
Want more? Theres Helma which is a Rails like framework which leverages server side Javascript and Rhino. The whole thing runs in the JVM and uses Jetty as the default, self contained web server - but you can also put it behind Apache or IIS if you want. How come you can go wrong with a combination like that? You get a MVC framework with a self contained server and set of useful tools and utilities that only requires you to have a basic JVM installed. You get to script it with the dynamic and flexible language that requires no compilation, and no SDK. You get the entirety of the Java API at your disposal courtesy of Rhino. Not only that, but you can simply drop in your custom precompiled Java libraries and classes and seamlessly integrate them into your project.
But there is more - recently I spotted another interesting project called Junction. Like Helma it is a Rails like MVC framework that uses Rhino but in addition, it also has a built in support for Google Gears. This means that apps built on the Junction framework get to benefit from the offline persistence features offered by the Google technology.
There is all this development going on out there. It’s not very visible yet - most of it is somewhat behind the scenes. But it’s like that distant rumbling before the storm. You know something big is coming. Just look around.
You want to develop rich client interfaces? There’s XUL and Adobe Air for you - both using Javascript at their core.
You want dynamic web UI framework? There is JQuery, Prototype, Dojo, Google Web Toolkit and YUI just to name few.
Want to use Java API? Use Rhino. Want to tap into the richness of Microsoft CLR and interact with the rest of .NET ecosystem? Theres JScript.NET. You want to do some native scripting on MacOS? There is Javascript OSA.
You want to add oflline persistence to your web applications? You need Google Gears which is also using Javascript.
The language is everywhere. Everything that is new, that is hot and that relates to the web is at least touching or benefiting from it. Every developer will see it, and work with or alongside it sooner or later. It’s ubiquitous.
The pieces are slowly falling in place and setting up the stage for the upcoming explosion. It’s no longer question of whether we will reach that critical mass, but when will it happen. We have the tools, we have the technology, we have the hook and the need (unifying the client and server side under one language) - now we just need to wait for the hype. And for that, we need branding. Steve Yegge talked about this during his Ted talk - we need to re-brand the language to make it more sexy. Everyone thingks that Javascript is a toy language, and ECMA sounds like a some sort of acne prescription so we need a new, cool name. We also have a good reason for re branding - the upcoming release of Javascrip2 standard which brings about many new features to the language such as classes, interfaces, namespaces, packages, destructuring assignments, structs, type declarations and more.
It is a bucket load of new features so why not start fresh, with a new sexy name and identity. I mean look at AJAX - the acronym really means “using the asynchronous calls in Javascript” but if you say it like that, people immediately fall asleep and run away. But AJAX is cool and sexy. Javascript can be to - and I predict it will be, sooner or later.
Ajax Projects
