From Maroun Baydoun · · 1m 30s
JavaScript midlife crisis
JavaScript's speed race leaves developers wondering if the language itself is the problem.
In brief
JavaScript's speed race leaves developers wondering if the language itself is the problem. JavaScript developers are optimizing toolchains with faster languages but risk losing the language's relevance as the ecosystem grows more complex. Originally reported by Maroun Baydoun.
The JavaScript toolchain rewrite
The older tools that helped cement JavaScript's place in stacks became uncool and suspicious.
JavaScript's unexpected rise
JavaScript escaped its browser birthplace to run on phones, gaming consoles, microcontrollers and fridges.
The language's resilience
Despite attempts to replace it, JavaScript kept evolving through ECMAScript releases and TC39 proposals.
TypeScript's promise
TypeScript succeeded by accepting JavaScript wasn't going anywhere.
The superpower we're giving away
JavaScript accelerated full-stack engineering by making the same language work across browsers and servers.
Rust takes over toolchains
Rust, Go and Zig are rewriting JavaScript toolchains to be ten times faster.
The speed trade-off
Rewriting toolchains in Rust shrinks the pool of JavaScript developers who can maintain them.
Shiny object syndrome
Success breeds imitation as faster tools become the new standard for JavaScript tooling.
The steam train paradox
We're laying faster tracks for a steam train that likes to take its time.
Destination unknown
Faster tracks may not help JavaScript if the language itself can't keep up with the speed.
The ultimate question
How far can we go before rebuilding the web from the ground up starts looking like the saner option?
The bottom line
JavaScript developers are optimizing toolchains with faster languages but risk losing the language's relevance as the ecosystem grows more complex.
