I like to walk early in the morning.  The cool air wakes me up, and it is a good time to think, while the city remains quiet.  This morning, I kept going for some distance.

What had me pacing further than usual was the culmination of a series of events that I could not stop thinking about, namely the apparent collapse of the the committee that oversees much of what we who work on the web do.  I am referring, of course, to the abandonment of the ECMAScript 4 standard – what was to be the next leap ahead for Javascript (and the languages based on this script standard).  In recent announcements, the European Standards committee have announced that they are united (pah) in their decision to downgrade their efforts to version 3.1.

I am not someone who rabidly follows the blogs of the ECMA decision makers, or the industry people who provide consultation to them.  I do not subscribe to the mailing list, I simply have no time for it, and at moments like this I’m glad that I don’t waste my efforts.  Still, I am perhaps a little more informed than “Joe Sixpack” in these matters and I keep an eye on what is coming down the pipe.  There seems little dispute that the ECMA was stalled by bickering parties pushing their own interests.  That is unfortunate.

I do sometimes leap to the conclusion that everyone wants to innovate, improve, and take the web to the next level.  And many do, but perhaps just as many do not.  This downgrade to small incremental improvements to javascript is nothing less than a vote for no improvement at all.  It is the equivalent of slowly removing the bandaid, rather than the swift tug that is needed.

There is one train of thought that suggests that ECMAScript4 died because large corporations saw the adoption/dismissal of the standard as a competitive advantage.  However, that is only one vantage from which to view the event.  Another is from the standpoint of the individual web developer, and the sad reality is that many will breathe a sigh of relief that ECMA4 has gone away (or so they will think).  Make no mistake, the new standard was a radical (and much needed) leap ahead of Javascript as it exists today, and would have thrust JS developers into a new, thus uncomfortable, situation.  I know because I’ve been there.  As an actionscript developer, I’ve been down that road of moving into a truly object-oriented language.

Adopting a new methodology is an upsetting experience, as you pry your mind open to new ideas, exposing the ugly secrets you didn’t know you had.  At the same time it yields rewards that can not be had otherwise.  From an accomplishment point of view, does a developer not owe it to themselves to experience this?  And from a business standpoint, do you not owe it to your clients to be your very best?  Transitioning from AS2 to AS3 was a mission fraught with peril, and came quite close on the heels of moving from AS1 to AS2!  It required not just careful study, but changes in lifestyle to accomplish, along with good old fashioned determination.  But I would not have it any other way.

I know of one JS developer who takes pains to avoid Flash technology, who likes to claim that anything that can be done in Flash can be accomplished outside of it with javascript.  I smile.  I am not a fanboy for any one technology, but I’ve been around long enough to see the foolishness of his viewpoint.  Just as there are things javascript can do that Flash is not good for, there are MANY things javascript can not do at all that Flash technology enables.  But I imagine this fellow will breathe easier today, now that ECMA 4 is going away.

And this is where my problem with the decision lies.  Abandoning at least offering the standard is a recognition that there are more of us who don’t want innovation than those of us that do.  It is throwing up a big sign that says ‘too many people like things just as they are for us to proceed’.  It also doesn’t show much faith in the JS developer community.  Hey, what about choice?

The fact is, there IS still choice.  If a JS developer was looking forward to the ECMAScript 4 standard as a way of joining the rich internet app party, perhaps it is time to hunker down with the technology that still supports it, is committed to doing so in the future, and supports multiple open-source efforts.  Of course I’m talking about Flash technology.  It is not the only option, but if, like many, you need to make your living from the internet it provides a very sound way of entering into heavily object-oriented languages.  Think it over.  There are many resources that can teach you what you need to know.

Those are my thoughts for now.  I reserve the right to keep thinking about it.

-t.