http://blogs.msdn.com/scottwil/archive/tags/JavaScript/default.aspxTags: JavaScripten-USCommunityServer 2.1 SP1 (Build: 61025.2)http://blogs.msdn.com/scottwil/archive/2007/10/29/more-javascript-discussion-on-ajaxian.aspxTue, 30 Oct 2007 01:19:00 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:5771952scottwil1http://blogs.msdn.com/scottwil/comments/5771952.aspxhttp://blogs.msdn.com/scottwil/commentrss.aspx?PostID=5771952<P>Re: my <A class="" title="The Future of JavaScript" href="http://blogs.msdn.com/scottwil/archive/2007/10/29/the-future-of-javascript.aspx" mce_href="http://blogs.msdn.com/scottwil/archive/2007/10/29/the-future-of-javascript.aspx">earlier post</A> on the future of JavaScript, there is another interesting item today on Ajaxian: <A class="" title="ECMAScript Edition 4: Brendan Speaks Out" href="http://ajaxian.com/archives/ecmascript-edition-4-brendan-speaks-out" rel=bookmark mce_href="http://ajaxian.com/archives/ecmascript-edition-4-brendan-speaks-out">ECMAScript Edition 4: Brendan Speaks Out</A>.</P> <P>--Scott</P><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=5771952" width="1" height="1">LanguagesJavaScripthttp://blogs.msdn.com/scottwil/archive/2007/10/29/the-future-of-javascript.aspxMon, 29 Oct 2007 19:10:00 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:5767617scottwil5http://blogs.msdn.com/scottwil/comments/5767617.aspxhttp://blogs.msdn.com/scottwil/commentrss.aspx?PostID=5767617<P><A class="" title="Gabriele Renzi" href="http://www.riffraff.info/" mce_href="http://www.riffraff.info/">Gabriele Renzi</A> has a good post on the future of JavaScript: &nbsp;"<A href="http://www.riffraff.info/2007/10/25/ecmascript-4-the-fourth-system-syndrome">ECMAScript 4, the fourth system syndrome</A>".&nbsp; The concept of a "fourth system syndrome" is a good one, particularly so for programming languages.&nbsp; For mature programming languages, thoughtful evolution is&nbsp;the rule.&nbsp; A revolution is best done with an entirely new language, as this serves two very&nbsp;important purposes:&nbsp; (1) supporting existing users, many of whom presumably <EM>like</EM> the&nbsp;existing language, by evolving&nbsp;it in parallel, and (2) freeing the new language from the constraints of the old one.</P> <P>This leads to a kind of <A class="" title="Punctuated equilibrium" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punctuated_equilibrium" mce_href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punctuated_equilibrium">punctuated equilibrium</A>, where there are significant periods of steady evolution in existing languages, punctuated by more rapid but discontinuous change driven by new languages.&nbsp; The latter doesn't happen very often, and it is interesting to look at history and consider the conditions or circumstances that favor the creation of new languages.</P> <P>The&nbsp;<A class="" title="ES4 Proposal" href="http://www.ecmascript.org/es4/spec/overview.pdf" mce_href="http://www.ecmascript.org/es4/spec/overview.pdf">ES4 proposal</A> is publicly available.&nbsp; Our <A class="" title="JScript team blog" href="http://blogs.msdn.com/jscript/" mce_href="http://blogs.msdn.com/jscript/">JScript team</A> is one of the participants in the ECMA working group, and is very interested in feedback from JavaScript developers on the future of the language.</P> <P>&nbsp;--Scott</P><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=5767617" width="1" height="1">LanguagesJavaScript