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jashkenas
coffeescript
CoffeeScript2009–2025
jashkenas / coffeescript

coffeescript

Unfancy JavaScript

Web Development
Explore on GitHubRead Hacker News discussions
181Distinct people
274Mentions
3Explicit recommenders
16.6KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

Unfancy JavaScript

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use was verified in the last source check.

What people are saying

Deno + Coffeescript? I mean it runs Typescript natively, so why not my favorite flavor of javascript, too? https://github.com/jashkenas/coffeescript/issues/5150

danschumann used a recommendation phrase. 3 indexed comments match. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 12:54:37 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year274 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2009-12-24 21:07:22 UTC to 2025-11-10 07:58:51 UTC.

02040602009-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2010-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments20092010-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2011-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 13 mentions; 4 submissions, 9 comments2011-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2012-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 67 mentions; 7 submissions, 60 comments2012-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 45 mentions; 7 submissions, 38 comments2013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 45 mentions; 11 submissions, 34 comments2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 28 mentions; 1 submissions, 27 comments2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 21 mentions; 3 submissions, 18 comments2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 15 mentions; 3 submissions, 12 comments2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 12 mentions; 0 submissions, 12 comments20172018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 6 mentions; 2 submissions, 4 comments2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 6 mentions; 1 submissions, 5 comments2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 6 mentions; 0 submissions, 6 comments2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 5 mentions; 0 submissions, 5 comments2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 1 submissions, 0 comments2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2025

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20092009-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2010-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20102010-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2011-01-01 00:00:00 UTC1349
20112011-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2012-01-01 00:00:00 UTC67760
20122012-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC45738
20132013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC451134
20142014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC28127
20152015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC21318
20162016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC15312
20172017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC12012
20182018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC624
20192019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC615
20202020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC606
20212021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20222022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC505
20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC110
20242024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20252025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101

From the project README

An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.

Read the project’s introduction
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Read the full README on GitHub

What Hacker News says

274 sources
DemocracyFTW2·Nov 10, 2025
I'm writing all my stuff in CoffeeScript (which trans/com/piles to JavaScript). I feel like almost the last man standing at this point. I have some plans to revive a fork of https://github.com/jashkenas/coffeescript but those are ... plans. I like CS for its syntax which is indentation-based similar to Python; in addition, you get e.g. paren-less function calls as in `mul 4, 5`; also, all functions are 'lambdas' and declared like other values, so e.g. `mul = ( a, b ) -> a * b`. Implicit returns are great for one-liners but a problem everywhere else, so that would be one thing to improve in the future. As for another change that goes beyond mere syntax is the scoping rules which CoffeeScript adopted in the style of Python. As a result, both Python and CoffeeScript now suffer from similar deficits regarding accidental shadowing; in addition
Read the rest
, CoffeeScript explicitly refused to allow (equivalents to or the very keywords) `let` and `const` into the language which means they're now stuck with `var`. Bad. Also I envision 'tagged values', a feature similar to tagged templates where you can prepend a function name directly to a literal and have the function turn the literal into the desired value, so `s[ 4, 6, 7, 9, ]` could be defined (in userland) to result in `new Set [ 4, 6, 7, 9, ]`. I'm aware of better-maintained alternatives like https://livescript.net but I'd have to convince myself the transition would be worth it. As for other languages—I look into them with interest, but nothing that doesn't compile to WASM and runs on NodeJS is of practical interest to me; I'm not going to change my VM.
In Ask HN: Do you use an old or 'unfashionable' programming language?
phil294·Jul 29, 2022
This already exists, see [1]. Development has a bit stalled, but afaik the author wants to keep pursuing it. There's even a Discord server for this kind of project, see also this GitHub thread [2] where CS+TS is being discussed in general. Alternatively, you can code in Coffee with JSDoc type annotations, yielding a near-TypeScript experience in both IDE and output, albeit the annotation syntax can be a bit annoying, ironically. [1] https://github.com/edemaine/coffeescript/blob/typescript/tes... [2] https://github.com/jashkenas/coffeescript/issues/5307
In HypeScript: Simplified TypeScript type system in TypeScript's own type system
esprehn·Mar 27, 2022
Read the README: https://github.com/fwcd/kotlin-language-server#this-reposito... What you said would make sense, except they do build a plugin for Eclipse. Better options would be any language where the stewards are not trying to extract money from you by forcing your IDE choice. Or where they view fostering community good will as being in their best interest. Ex. MS offers an official LS rather than saying "we don't support other IDEs because Visual Studio licenses." There's lots of choices here for compile to JS languages: https://github.com/jashkenas/coffeescript/wiki/List-of-langu...
In Kotlin for JavaScript
phil294·Mar 10, 2022
CoffeeScript, for one, is already at least talking about emitting TS [1]. These kinds of changes are vigorously debated though, e.g. [2]. Once ECMA type comments get to stage 4, CS would probably also adapt the new syntax. Other compile-to-js languages that already ship with their own type system like Dart will probably be indifferent to the debated proposal. [1] https://github.com/jashkenas/coffeescript/issues/5307 [2] https://github.com/jashkenas/coffeescript/issues/5394
In First look: adding type annotations to JavaScript
DrScientist·Dec 7, 2020
Because it fails to meet the 'it's the platform stupid' maxim. ie languages aren't nearly quite so important as the platform. Stuff wasn't written in js because early js was a brilliant language - it was because the platform - the web - was brilliant. Many have written 'better' languages that compile to js - https://github.com/jashkenas/coffeescript/wiki/List-of-langu... and while typescript is one of the better, more supported ones, isn't it just another one? Surely in the end it just adds complexity and fragmentation of the ecosystem?
In A Modern JavaScript Tutorial
jessaustin·May 16, 2020
Lots of people use it (I use it for all my personal stuff) and it sees regular updates. [0] I think it coordinates well with modern client-side frameworks like Mithril (... and experts agree [1]). It has kept up with the new stuff in javascript, and it often does the new stuff better than JS. Example: in coffeescript you don't need the goofy function declaration flags that JS requires: "*" and "async". In coffeescript a generator is a function that yields and an async function is a function that awaits. This is clearly better. Obviously, Typescript is more appealing to management. It may not be obvious from this thread, but bragging about how old-n-busted coffeescript is compared to... whatever was a lot cooler a couple of years ago than it is now. Nowadays the cool kids complain about npm or rollup or something. [0] https://github.com/ja
Read the rest
shkenas/coffeescript/commits/master [1] https://mithril.js.org/signatures.html#splats
In The Great CoffeeScript to Typescript Migration of 2017
scarface74·Apr 9, 2020
Is that really all it is though? Cases in point: Java Applets, VB, Flash, Dart ... All of these were at one point or another "built into the browser", but where are they now? VB was never built into all browsers. As far as Flash and Java applets, they were popular until they stopped being supported in all browsers - namely the iPhone and iPad. Exhibit A: List of very different and diverse languages that compile to JS ( https://github.com/jashkenas/coffeescript/wiki/List-of-langu.... ). If this does not demonstrate the flexibility and malleability of the language, then I do not know what does. Almost any language can be transpiled into any other language. That says nothing about any trait inherent in the language. Flash ActionScript was massive 10 years ago compared to any alternative to JS tech today, and where is it now? Apple singlehand
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edly killed Flash by not supporting it on iOS. CoffeeScript was all the rage 5 years ago, JS simply absorbed all its good ideas, where is it today? CoffeeScript was never championed by a company that has the revenue and clout that MS has and never got the adoption. Please don’t mention all of the initiatives that Google tried. Google isn’t exactly known for its ability to manage a platform.
In How porting to TypeScript solved our API woes
orange8·Apr 9, 2020
Is that really all it is though? Cases in point: Java Applets, VB, Flash, Dart ... All of these were at one point or another "built into the browser", but where are they now? Give credit where it is due, the success of the web as a platform lies not in its technical superiority over alternatives, but in its inclusiveness and flexibility. Any tech that is trying to replace HTML, CSS and JS in this regards will seriously have to consider and accommodate this, or suffer the same fate of hundreds of other pretenders to the throne. Long live the king! Long live open, approachable and flexible tech! Exhibit A: List of very different and diverse languages that compile to JS ( https://github.com/jashkenas/coffeescript/wiki/List-of-langu... ). If this does not demonstrate the flexibility and malleability of the language, then I do not know what do
Read the rest
es. Take web assembly for example, which has been around for over five years now, and was specifically designed as a "compile to" language. How many languages compile to web assembly in comparison? Any tech that is as divisive as TS is simply not going to get far. Flash ActionScript was massive 10 years ago compared to any alternative to JS tech today, and where is it now? The creator of TS even quotes ActionScript as one of the main inspirations for TS. ActionScript even had a more powerful version of Reacts JSX (ES4), where is it today? CoffeeScript was all the rage 5 years ago, JS simply absorbed all its good ideas, where is it today? The things that last, that stand the test of time are the things that are flexible and accommodate different ways of doing things. For your beloved TS to stand the test of time, it has got to accommodate the whole JS eco-system, not just those who favor the static object oriented way of doing things.
In How porting to TypeScript solved our API woes

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