5 ms·

In 1995, a Netscape employee wrote a hack in 10 days that now runs the Internet

14 points by leecoursey 10mo ago

leecoursey 10mo ago
JavaScript, which runs on an estimated 98.9 percent of all websites globally, is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its initial announcement. The programming language originated from a joint press release issued by Netscape Communications and Sun Microsystems in May 1995, following an intensive 10-day sprint by Netscape engineer Brendan Eich who developed the foundational working prototype. Netscape intended the design to be a lightweight scripting tool that would appeal to web designers and non-professional programmers, allowing them to add interactive elements to webpages. JavaScript quickly grew past its browser origins and now consistently ranks among the most widely used languages in the world, powering mobile applications, server infrastructure, desktop software, and embedded systems.
- commandlinefan 10mo ago
  > appeal to web designers and non-professional programmers Similar to COBOL and SQL - designed to be "accessible" by oversimplifying things and ended up being more complicated to actually use than better tools.
altmanaltman 10mo ago
Headline has a serious case of "Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave, with a box of scraps" syndrome. What runs the internet today is completely different from the "hack" and more than at least 1 Netscape employee worked on it and its modern iterations.
- commandlinefan 10mo ago
  Well, in fairness to the headline, all of the bad parts of Javascript introduced in those 10 days are still there.
  - BrendanEich 10mo ago
    No, == was strict in the ten day prototype. https://x.com/BrendanEich/status/1004425861410402304 https://x.com/BrendanEich/status/1004425861410402304 https://x.com/BrendanEich/status/1922360598995534074 https://x.com/BrendanEich/status/1922360598995534074
ChrisArchitect 10mo ago
[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46146406 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46146406

5 ms·

In 1995, a Netscape employee wrote a hack in 10 days that now runs the Internet

14 points by leecoursey 10mo ago

leecoursey 10mo ago
JavaScript, which runs on an estimated 98.9 percent of all websites globally, is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its initial announcement. The programming language originated from a joint press release issued by Netscape Communications and Sun Microsystems in May 1995, following an intensive 10-day sprint by Netscape engineer Brendan Eich who developed the foundational working prototype. Netscape intended the design to be a lightweight scripting tool that would appeal to web designers and non-professional programmers, allowing them to add interactive elements to webpages. JavaScript quickly grew past its browser origins and now consistently ranks among the most widely used languages in the world, powering mobile applications, server infrastructure, desktop software, and embedded systems.
- commandlinefan 10mo ago
  > appeal to web designers and non-professional programmers Similar to COBOL and SQL - designed to be "accessible" by oversimplifying things and ended up being more complicated to actually use than better tools.
altmanaltman 10mo ago
Headline has a serious case of "Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave, with a box of scraps" syndrome. What runs the internet today is completely different from the "hack" and more than at least 1 Netscape employee worked on it and its modern iterations.
- commandlinefan 10mo ago
  Well, in fairness to the headline, all of the bad parts of Javascript introduced in those 10 days are still there.
  - BrendanEich 10mo ago
    No, == was strict in the ten day prototype. https://x.com/BrendanEich/status/1004425861410402304 https://x.com/BrendanEich/status/1004425861410402304 https://x.com/BrendanEich/status/1922360598995534074 https://x.com/BrendanEich/status/1922360598995534074
ChrisArchitect 10mo ago
[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46146406 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46146406