I've said it once and I'll say it again: if you're going to compile down to a language, support macros. CoffeeScript tries to make Javascript better, but I personally prefer Javascript's syntax. That's not to say CS doesn't have its benefits for many people, but one of the only things missing from Javascript is macros, so CS is pretty much worthless to me.
After spending countless hours in lisp and javascript, php leaves a lot to be desired. One of the things I do not desire is a language of equal power with a completely different syntax. Syntax is meaningless if it doesn't allow greater power.
Honestly, it's bad enough that CoffeeScript is so prevalent. I understand why it's around and why people like it, but I don't prefer it to pure JS...and I'd rather the trend not spread to other languages.
After spending countless hours in lisp and javascript, php leaves a lot to be desired. One of the things I do not desire is a language of equal power with a completely different syntax. Syntax is meaningless if it doesn't allow greater power.
Honestly, it's bad enough that CoffeeScript is so prevalent. I understand why it's around and why people like it, but I don't prefer it to pure JS...and I'd rather the trend not spread to other languages.
One possible candidate would be Pharen, though: http://scriptor.github.com/pharen/.