The future of JavaScript


THAT CONCLUDES OUR journey through JavaScript. I hope that this book enables you to grow and improve in your day to day scripting.

Remember, though, that what you've read is not a complete overview of all JavaScript features and functionalities, but a selection of features that you're most likely to need in your scripts, or that are so fundamental that it's impossible to understand JavaScript without knowledge of them.

This book is the start of your learning process, not the end.

To finish in style, let's take a short peek into our crystal balls and try to predict the future of JavaScript. I see three important developments that will change JavaScript over the next few years or so.

The most important one is the end of the Ajax hype. I'm not sure when it will happen, but I know that it will. What goes around comes aroundwhat once was cool and modern will become old hat and boring.

The hype has taught us a loteven if only by setting bad examples. If we study the difference between unsuccesful and successful Ajax applications we'll gain more insight into the limitations of the users' comprehension of complicated interfaces, and thus JavaScript's overall purpose. We might even be able to define that purpose in a way that will survive the next few alternations of fat and thin phases.

Despite these possible long-term benefits, the disappearance of the hype will cause one short-term change that has disadvantages as well as advantages: many developers who came from "hard" programming will once again return to their original languages once JavaScript is no longer cool.

The disadvantage is that these programmers have a lot of knowledge of advanced programming structures that the average Web developer lacks, and once they're gone they can't explain application design to us. I hope some of them will stick around to teach us.

The advantage is that the disappearance of the "hard" programmers will allow JavaScript developers to focus on accessibility more than is the case now. One of the prime problems of JavaScript accessibility is that many programmers who create Ajax applications are largely unaware of it. It remains an issue that Web developers are better equipped to deal with than "hard" programmers; and the disappearance of the hype will give Web developers their chance to do so.

The second important development is the emergence of the Core 2.0 standard. It will bring JavaScript closer in line with other programming languagesalthough right now it seems that this change will come too late to help the Ajax developers. Nonetheless, Core 2.0 might help programmers to take JavaScript more seriously, which will benefit the entire language and all its users.

The third important development is that all browser vendors, including Microsoft, are now firmly committed to Web standards. Even though browser incompatibilities have not yet disappeared, they'll gradually grow less in scope and severityexcept of course for those problems that are caused by a human programming error: these will never disappear.

In short, I feel that with a little bit of luck the coming years will see a better definition of JavaScript's purpose (which may include a serious attempt to integrate accessibility into common scripting practices); the emergence of a better programming style thanks to Core 2.0 and the lessons of "hard" programmers; and less browser problems.

JavaScript is on the move. The best is still to come.



ppk on JavaScript. Modern, Accessible, Unobtrusive JavaScript Explained by Means of Eight Real-World Example Scripts2006
ppk on JavaScript. Modern, Accessible, Unobtrusive JavaScript Explained by Means of Eight Real-World Example Scripts2006
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2005
Pages: 116

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