markjgsmith

2023/09/15 #

• Typescript makes community programming mire difficult - Rich Harris makes an interesting point about how Typescript has changed how we interact with the libraries we use in our code. Since there's a compilation step required, people are much less likely to explore the libraries they use, adding console.log statements and such. That's a big net loss to the ecosystem when it comes to community open source programing. He makes the case for why it would be better for library authors to use Typescript via JSDOC comments. Great point.

  One aspect that I think Typescript devs are very hypocritical about is the extra cognitive load and tooling complexity Typescript adds. It's like now that they have mastered JS and Typescript, they are pulling up the ladders so to speak, making it significantly harder to learn the language. I'm not saying Typescript is bad, but you should not require people building sheds to have to use skyscraper building tools. There's clearly a huge conflict of interest that they fail to disclose. Typescript is really an elitist extension that is only for people with space and time to learn, who are not immersed in chaos. By imposing Typescript early you are effectively shutting out a huge swoth of humans who's lives are not as afluent.

  Keep javascript something anyone can learn. Then if you want to go on to build sky scrappers with it, have the tooling available to make that possible. Just my two cents. #

• Make javascript easy again - It occurs to me that calling Typescript elitist is perhaps an over-simplification of a more complicated dynamic. It's entirely possible that those insisting on Typescript are from under-priveledged backgrounds. Perhaps their difficult path is the thing that causes the hypocracy in the first place. It might very well be that the very afluent don't behave this way.

  That would make sense since their path would have been comparatively easier, and so they would not see the need to make it more difficult for the competition. Of course that might just be elitist apologist tosh. Maybe elites really are all evil. Ultimately there's no way to know.

  But it's not really that important. What's important is having a language that is easy to learn and experiment with.

  If anything, we need to make it easier to learn, not harder. #

• I've fixed the notes ordering issue and day pages now look much nicer. It only affects the notes and links pages. It just means that when you click through to a particular day, the way the content is displayed remains the same.

  Previously the day pages had no date link at the top of the page, so it was a bit jarring. Small change, but huge effort. Readability is important on text based websites. #