I still have to use javascript as my programming language. I know there are cross-compilers to javascript, but it is really disappointing that we sorta standardized on a language instead of a bytecode.
IMHO, a single, simple, and flexible language has greatly helped the web become ubiquitous. I think that javascript has been a key ingredient to the web's growth and it might not have been the same if a more "powerful" or "standard" language/jvm was shoehorned in.
Although I love the idea of prototype-based languages (NewtonScript was fun), it is a language and not a standard bytecode. We spent a lot of time learning to optimize it and we are stuck with it. Cross compilers are a poor substitute for a standard vm and bytecode.
Why not, it is a standard and a "bytecode" (Javascript sources being the bytes). Not a very efficient bytecode maybe, but still. You could write a scheme interpreter in JavaScript and have it execute your scheme programs in the browser.
Because it a kludge and not very efficient. I just can't believe the huge step backwards we take when we go to do "web programming". I guess I'm just wishing the web browser had evolved into an open cross platform thin client that is not dependent on one language.
