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David Wickes
David Wickes

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How To Spell JavaScript

I thought I'd explain how to spell JavaScript, and go through some common mistakes developers encounter when writing the word.

Javascript

Nope, you need to capitalize the 's'. It's camel case, like all the worst programming languages.

JavaSCRIPT

Too many capital letters now.

java_script

Go back to writing Python or Ruby or whatever.

JAVASCRIPT

  1. NO IT'S NOT COBOL
  2. OR BASIC
  3. GOTO 10

java-script

Although Brendan Eich wanted to write "Scheme for the browser", he didn't and it isn't. So no kebab case for you.

ECMAScript

Oooooh check you out, smarty pants. Technically this is correct, but in reality it sounds like a skin condition. So no.

TypeScript

Well done, you've got the camel case right. But you've forgotten how to spell "Java" and it looks like you've written any randomly all over your code.

ClojureScript

Not only can't you spell "Java", now you can't spell "Closure" and you're putting the parentheses in the wrong places.

CoffeeScript

Only valid in 418 responses.

ActionScript

How old are you?

NodeJS

NodeJS isn't the name of a language; it's the name of a browser project that got badly out of control.

Java

I mean, given that you're probably writing your JavaScript like it's Java this is at least honest.

JSX

The 'X' stands for "wtf is all this HTML doing in my JavaScript?"

ESNext

You're writing a language from the future. Stop it. What are those ridiculous looking operators doing anyway? You really need them? You really missed waiting for your code to compile so much that now you're compiling your JavaScript into JavaScript using JavaScript?

LiveScript

Brendan? Is that you?

Top comments (26)

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ruthmoog profile image
ruthmoog

It is PascalCase since the J is capitalized, whereas camelCase has a small head and then humps.

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gypsydave5 profile image
David Wickes

you are technically correct

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aminmansuri profile image
hidden_dude • Edited

Camel case was heavily used in Smalltalk (and probably the first introduction for most people). Which is definitely not among the "worst" languages.

It was so ahead of its time that languages like JavaScript and Python and others are still trying to catch up with it.

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aminmansuri profile image
hidden_dude • Edited

Begin: opinionated comment

Maybe we should call it "hidden_dude's 11th rule":

"Any sufficiently evolved OO language ends up turning into a poorly implemented syntax mishmash of OO and functional features that are only half of expressive as Smalltalk with none of its elegance"

All languages want to become Smalltalk, that's why in the last 3 decades we've slowly seen them add classes, then things like VMs and garbage collection, and more recently things like closures and map/reduce (collect/inject), dynamic debugging, etc.

But even the "cleaner" languages like Python are still bogged down by their inferior syntax.

End: opinionated comment

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gypsydave5 profile image
David Wickes

Sorry, this is a post about how to spell JavaScript. I don't know if I can help you with your consistent misspellings of Lisp as "Smalltalk" 😉

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aminmansuri profile image
hidden_dude • Edited

;)

Lisp is not OO. Smalltalk included what Lisp invented. And nobody in their right mind likes Lisp syntax.. too many parenthesis.

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gypsydave5 profile image
David Wickes

Lisp is not OO.

🤨

I look forward to convincing you otherwise!

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patarapolw profile image
Pacharapol Withayasakpunt

I have seen Java Script as well.

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pandaquests profile image
Panda Quests • Edited

You forgot "JS"

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peerreynders profile image
peerreynders • Edited

Spelling "JavaScript" can get you into trouble with Oracle.

twitter.com/jaesustein/status/9865...

So like it or not spelling "ECMAScript" (ES) is less hassle.

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jvarness profile image
Jake Varness

Elm

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gypsydave5 profile image
David Wickes

Elm isn't a language; it's an abstract syntax tree.

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pepkin88 profile image
Marek Pepke

So is ClojureScript.

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nikoheikkila profile image
Niko Heikkilä

But what about PureScript for all of us geeks who can't tolerate side-effects in life?

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gypsydave5 profile image
David Wickes

I only use PurrScript. Because I love cat-egory theory...

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drbearhands profile image
DrBearhands

Congratulations! I didn't know you'd become a father!

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gypsydave5 profile image
David Wickes

Thank you!

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jsn1nj4 profile image
Elliot Derhay
Comment.create("Here, take your like.");
likeCounter.increment();
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mdamaceno profile image
Marco Damaceno

JScript would be nice!

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gypsydave5 profile image
David Wickes

JScript would be JavaScript trying to do 90s rap...

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This Dot Media

Haha love this!