From You Can't to You Can: The Welcoming Nature of JavaScript

This talk aims to explore the intrinsic beauty of JavaScript, examining and enumerating its often-criticized strengths that make it the powerful language that it is today, and that has given birth to the most vibrant, supportive, inclusive developer community that we have.

Specifically, the talk aims to shed light on aspects of JavaScript that are often criticised: dynamic typing, implicit coercion, a lack of structural opinionation, prompting a second thought: could these parts of the language be strengths instead of perceived weaknesses?

The talk will also include a bit of my experience into programming: I am a chroncially ill, severely disabled person with a life-threatening sickness, yet I found a career in which I can flourish through JavaScript and its welcoming nature.

Transcript

1. @tejaskumar_ !
2. @tejaskumar_ Tejas Like “contagious”
3. @tejaskumar_
4. @tejaskumar_ You Can’t → You Can The Welcoming Nature of JavaScript
5. @tejaskumar_ “JavaScript developers should just [can’t because Code of Conduct]” – Scala Engineer, 2017
6. @tejaskumar_ Quick Recap The Evolution of JavaScript
7. @tejaskumar_ Intrinsic Beauty
8. @tejaskumar_ Dynamic Types 11 + "1" = "111"
9. @tejaskumar_ Declarative APIs window.giveMeSuperpowers();
10. @tejaskumar_ APIs “JavaScript is also coupled with The DOM, a horrendous API. There is a lot of confusion about where JavaScript ends and the DOM begins.”
 - crockford.com
11. @tejaskumar_ Backwards Compatible ES3 > 4 > 5 > 6 > 2016 > 201*
12. @tejaskumar_ Open Specification https://github.com/tc39/ecma262
13. @tejaskumar_ Full-stack Language const { execSync } = require(“fs”); const app = require(“express”)();
14. @tejaskumar_ Portable
15. @tejaskumar_
16. @tejaskumar_ My Journey You Can’t → You Can
17. @tejaskumar_ Hæmophilia You really can’t… and shouldn’t
18. @tejaskumar_ $9,000 per week
19. @tejaskumar_ $0 per week
20. @tejaskumar_ How’s that wasm thing?
21. @tejaskumar_ JS More than a language: a culture.
22. @tejaskumar_ http://brendaneich.github.io/ModernWeb.tw-2015/#74
23. Thank You twitter: @tejaskumar_ github.com/tc39 github.com/rustwasm nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/hemophilia