Look, I’m sorry, but Javascript is a weird language.  There’s nothing wrong with that, certainly, but it seems Javascript developers take this factopinion as a slap in the face.  They get all defensive.

“There’s nothing weird or strange about my language-baby, you’re just stupid because you can’t learn it” they seem to say.

Popular negative opinions on Javascript range from the lack of strict typing on variables, lack of classical object-oriented structuring like Classes, Interfaces, Inheritance, etc.  This is all stuff that a lot of the more traditional languages have had and loved for years.  Developers in these languages get their groove on with these tools, and sometimes can’t imagine working without them.

Think of it….like a highschool.  You’ve got your popular kids (the Java developers), the athletes (the C++ developers), and the rich kids (.NET C# developers).  They all talk about popular kid things – sports, girls/boys, cars, makeup, and more sports.

Now, I don’t know about you but I didn’t sit at the cool kids lunch table in school.  Yes….my friends were awesome, and we were cool on our own, but we weren’t the POPULAR kids.  Some of us like sports, cars, and some of us wore makeup – but we didn’t talk about it all the time.  We talked about how we couldn’t wait until Saturday morning to watch the next episode of “The Tick” cartoon, we talked about guitars, bands – we acted out sketches from MTV’s “The State”.  We ran our schools public access station.  We had a blast, and we loved it.

Looking back, maybe we were a little freaky – but we owned it.  I don’t know that we really had that much in common with the popular kids.  I still to this day can’t identify a car if I’m sitting in it, and I sure as hell don’t know sports, but I’m doing my own thing – and I know it.

That’s exactly like Javascript developers.  They might be a little freaky, but they’re no less beautiful than the popular kids.  And you know, the popular kids might look down on them because when they try to strike up a conversation interfaces, strict typing, etc – they just aren’t on the same page.

Here’s the difference though – some Javascript developers seem to be saying “Cars are for pussies, try riding a bike next time”.  “Sports? Pish-tosh, that’s for you common folk un-intellectual folk.  I’m better than sports, surely you are as well”

No – you Javascript developers know who you are .  You’re doing it wrong.  Javascript is different.  Javascript is a freak, but Javascript is beautiful too – and yes you might not need all the frills in the other langauges, but don’t act like others are stupid for asking about them.  Calling somebody stupid and acting like you’re better than them  is a barrier to the world having a good opinion of Javascript.

I know, I know – sometimes you’ll get made fun of by the popular kids.  Its OK, it happens – but if you dish it back, nobody wins.  Just try to educate, and they are too closed minded to listen, ignore.

And it goes both ways – listen to them too.  The stuff they know is popular for a reason.  Coffeescript, Dart, and Typescript are there for a reason.  Be OK with it and understand it, even if you don’t prefer it.

Don’t be negative, spread a positive message: “Javascript is just a little freaky, but it’s OK… it’s beautiful and you’ll get used to it.”