[Mono-list] Why Gnome prefer JavaScript?

[Jonathan Pryor]

On Feb 5, 2013, at 10:23 AM, Alberto León <leontiscar at gmail.com> wrote:
> But, JavaScript was the reason to Oracle denounced Google.

No, Java as why Oracle sued Google. JavaScript is completely different. It's kinda/sorta/not-really like comparing C and Perl -- sure, they both use '{' for blocks, but other than that...completely different.

> I can't understand why Gnome and Linux rejected support C# and has accepted javascript as official language.

Let's just admit that C# was never going to be a viable first-choice option for Gnome, for both political reasons ("Microsoft sucks!!!!oneone!!") and functional reasons (is there a decent GTK+ 3.0 binding yet? I'm not sure, and even if there is it took awhile...).

Gnome needed a single language to tell newcomers to use, to use for documentation and samples [0]. C is too low-level and annoying. C# isn't viable, politically. Java sucks. Python would be plausible, but it's whitespace requirements tends to "turn people off".

Gnome Shell is already partially implemented in JavaScript, so their decision to recommend it is not entirely unsurprising or shocking.

 - Jon

[0] See also The Paradox of Choice: https://www.google.com/search?q=the+paradox+of+choice

Too many choices make decision making harder, which will drive people away from the platform. Gnome _needs_ a single choice BY DEFAULT. Sure, other languages can, should be, and are usable, but for newcomers a single choice needs to be used.