December 27, 2025
10 days to build, decades to argue
In 1995, a Netscape employee wrote a hack in 10 days that now runs the Internet
A 10‑day “hack” rules the web—commenters feud over Lisp, Node, and space telescopes
TLDR: JavaScript was born in a frantic 10-day sprint and now powers most of the web. Commenters clash over its true roots (Lisp vs. Java vibes), who deserves credit for server-side JS, and a spicy claim about the James Webb Space Telescope—nostalgia and dupe policing included.
The web’s favorite plot twist: JavaScript was hacked together in 10 days in 1995 and now runs almost everything. That’s the headline—but the comments turned it into a soap opera. One camp insists the language’s soul was Lisp in a Java disguise, with a top reply claiming it started as “Java-like syntax over Common Lisp” (cue gasps). Another crowd is fact-checking credit: folks argue that Node.js—a tool to run JavaScript on servers—didn’t invent server-side JS. They say Netscape had JS on the server in the ’90s via Rhino and Netscape Enterprise Server, pointing to Brendan Eich’s own blog and calling out the article for skipping that history. Then comes the wild card: a commenter drops a teaser about JavaScript touching the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), sending skeptics into orbit to ask, “On the spacecraft or just ground tools?” It’s drama with a cosmic backdrop. Nostalgia popped too: an old-school dev whipped out a 2000 Netscape manual like a mixtape, linking the legendary Devedge reference. And of course, the dupe police arrived with sirens, linking a duplicate thread. Through it all, commenters relive the browser wars, Microsoft’s JScript, and JS’s famous quirks (wtfjs) with equal parts love and eye-rolls. Internet glue, community stew.
Key Points
- •JavaScript was announced by Netscape Communications and Sun Microsystems in December 1995 after Brendan Eich built an internal prototype in 10 days in May 1995.
- •JavaScript publicly shipped in September 1995 and reached version 1.0 in March 1996.
- •JavaScript now runs on approximately 98.9% of websites with client-side code and is widely used beyond the browser.
- •JavaScript’s design combined Java-like syntax with concepts from Scheme and Self, resulting in a prototype-based object model.
- •Microsoft’s JScript for Internet Explorer led to years of browser incompatibility, with early frequent changes to JavaScript noted by Brendan Eich, including Bill Gates’ complaints.