Quick Read: The JS Foundation
In recent years, JavaScript has seen a staggering number of libraries and frameworks come and go. In can be difficult to make important decisions about which software to use in your projects, as there is always the risk of depending on a library that the maintainer will not be able to support and, at worst, may end up abandoning.
To try and tackle some of the issues surrounding the support and development of the JavaScript ecosystem, the well-known jQuery Foundation and the Dojo Foundation have decided to join forces and fuse into the JS Foundation, a project backed by the Linux Foundation (if only I had a cent for every time someone says “Foundation”!).
Kris Borchers, Executive Director of the JS Foundation, released a statement regarding its inception:
“The Linux Foundation’s primary mission is to create the world’s largest shared technology investment. JavaScript is an extremely important programming language, which has seen numerous open-source projects arise around it.
Many of these projects are essential to the infrastructure of the Internet, so the Linux Foundation feels it is important to ensure they have structured support and neutral governance to ensure their stability, which is why the JS Foundation is being formed.”
It takes a great amount of selflessness to merge two foundations into one, so let’s take a moment and appreciate that. This could mean one of two things (or both):
- We reached the point of JavaScript fatigue. It’s hard to keep up with recent technologies anymore as workflows might change during the time you take your well-deserved developer vacations. There would be the need for a Caped Crusader to bring order in the messy proverbial city of JavaScript.
- The jQuery and Dojo Foundation had similar goals and values so they saw it fit to join forces.
With the first scenario being the reason behind various memes and jokes within tech communities, it might be a healthy step to clean up and unite everyone under a single banner. Decentralization is highly praised in open source communities, but it is also widely accepted that a benevolent dictator can actually improve the state of a project (or in this case, ecosystem) quite a bit.
A recent article poked fun at the current state of JavaScript, criticizing the constantly changing landscape of the language. While exaggerated, its message is pretty spot-on. If you haven’t been working with JavaScript for a while and have recently come back, you might have a steep learning curve ahead. Maybe this is where the JS Foundation can tackle some issues?
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