CoffeeScript is Language #14 on GitHub by Popularity

CoffeeScript recently became the 14th most popular programming language, ahead of #15 ActionScript, as ranked by popularity on GitHub.

Although the significance of the GitHub ranking is debatable, as it is based apparently on the number of GitHub repositories in which a language appears, rather than by those in which it is the primary language, thus giving an unfair advantage to JavaScript (and indeed, similarly, to CoffeeScript). This is nonetheless a significant metric showing the rapid adoption of CoffeeScript.

Yehuda Katz Proposes Interactive Proposals

Yehuda Katz has written a great article encouraging the contributors to ECMAScript to abandon their academic process for new language features in favor of something more concrete and accessible to the "lay developer" (nice term).

Interestingly, with a nod to the Try CoffeeScript online app, he recommends that proposals be made more interactive:

By writing such a source-to-source translator, existing language users can experiment with the new syntax easily in a browser environment without requiring a separate compilation pass. This also allows users to build an in-browser translation UI (similar to try CoffeeScript), which can improve general understanding of the new syntax and produce important feedback.

I feel this could be one of those watersheds, in which an outdated form inherited from an earlier era is replaced with a new hybrid of text and interactive software. This is a fascinating glimpse of the future. Can you imagine the day when every proposal for a new public works project or real estate development is required to be accompanied by interactive online tools for exploring potential consequences and outcomes?

O'Reilly CoffeeScript Book

An O'Reilly book on CoffeeScript by Alex MacCaw (@maccman) appears to be in the works, judging by this recent tweet by MacCaw. MacCaw is the author of the some great open-source JavaScript and CoffeeScript projects, as well as the good but short The Little Book on CoffeeScript, which is freely available online.

I replied that I would like to see a loooong book on CoffeeScript. Maybe something along the lines of Hal Fulton's The Ruby Way?

Pragmatic CoffeeScript Book Tops List

Trevor Burnham's CoffeeScript book has topped the bestseller list at The Pragmatic Bookshelf once again:

Congratulations to both Trevor and CoffeeScript. This is pretty amazing if you ask me.