JavaScript is Not Web Assembly
I usually try not to weigh in on these debates -- I imagine https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/nodejs/a7yVzBw1sJk is what triggered this post. But...Mr. Schlueter is right on -- C++ is a much more accurate comparison, and especially so because it was originally implemented as a cross-compiler into C source code (circa 1983-1990).That said, saying that the desire to compile into JavaScript is (to paraphrase the post) pathological language-wank craziness, is a bit extreme.I'd like to think that the reason why CoffeeScript has caught on like wildfire, when there are so many other AltJS languages out there (https://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/wiki/List-of-lang...) is that we're trying to take the deeply pragmatic approach.Mr. Schlueter writes "you don’t compile it to target a given platform," as if this would be an advantage or a justification for existing ... when it's really quite the opposite. JavaScript is plagued with libraries that will only ever run on certain platforms because they opt-in to platform specific features. I can't use your simple pluralization library to turn "bit" into "bits", because it was only written to run on Node.js, and is riddled with `forEach` and `require`, or because it was only written for the browser, and hides data in the DOM.CoffeeScript tries very hard to compile into efficient, lowest-common-denominator JavaScript (read avoid Internet Explorer bugs) because that's how your library can be used widely across devices and runtimes, while being reasonably future proof.I don't know when "order of magnitude difference" became a synonym for "worthwhile difference", but ... how much easier does a program have to be to read and write before it becomes a worthwhile choice to make the change? 2x? 1.3x?In any case, CoffeeScript is a little thought experiment -- not a corporate project, or a Dart-like browser takeover. If it suits your fancy, use it, and if it itches you the wrong way, by all means leave it out.