The other JavaScripts

I’ve recently become interested in Node.js, but I’m bored of writting stuff in JS. Additionally I’d like some more features to my workflow (like maybe some o dat intelisense). Although editors like sublime do a decent job of this aleady, it can still be done better.

Turns out I’m not the only one who could do with a fresh paint job on JS. There are a LOT of code in XYZ get JS compilers out there. We’re coders, and we need our code to look good so that we can understand it quickly when we come back to it. The point of all of these languages is that when working with just plain JS on any project bigger than a bit of website awesomeification code, it can quickly get out of control. It just wasn’t designed with our modern uses in mind. Memorize method names? Keep it all sorted out in your head? What is this? The 90s?

I’ve put together a quick list of the most interesting ones to me.

###CoffeeScript Ruby like. This was the first JS alternative that got my attention. If you just really don’t like the look of regular js and need that beautiful Ruby look, this is for you. It’s also mature, has relatively large community, and goes well with Sass.

###TypeScript C# like. I was luke warm on this one, until I heard that it is now included with the express web edition of visual studio 2013 (and that there’s an NPM package so you can just roll out .TS files to your server). Maybe I live under a rock, but I just don’t hear much about TypeScript. Regardless, the VisualStudio developer experience with TypeScript is pretty slick, worth a try if you have the time.

###Dart (dart2js) C# like. This is google’s answer for speeding up JS. Though it’s recieved a lot of critism. As the project’s goal is to replace JS. People don’t seem to like that idea. My thoughts are simple. If one browser supports Dart, I’ll send it Dart, the others can get JS as the dart2js compiler is already better than handwritten js.

###Haxe Featuring an AWESOME name, this isn’t specifically for JS, which may or may not make it more attracitve to you. It’s very similar to ActionScript (Flash), so if you’re a flash dev looking to break free from the binds of adobe, this may be your jam.

Myself? I’ll start with Dart. In the end it’s all JS. So move over JavaScript, I’ma write JavaScript… indirectly.