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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, 7:02:50 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
@@@@@@@ @@@@ @@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@ @@@ @@@ { @@@@ @@ @@@ @@@ } } { @@@@ @@@@@@@ @@@ @@@ @@@@@@ @@@@@@ { { } } @@@@ @@@ @@ @@@@@ @@@@@@ @@@ @@ @@@@ @@ } }{ { @@@@ @@@@ @@ @@@ @@@ @@@ @@@ @@@ @@@ { }{ } } @@@@ @@@@ @@ @@@ @@@ @@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@ { }{ }{ { } @@@@@ @@@@ @@ @@@ @@@ @@@ @@@ { { } { } { } } @@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@ @@@ @@@ @@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@ { } { } { } @@@@@ @@@ @@@ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@@@@ { } { } @@@@@@@ @@@ @@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@ @@@ @@@ @@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@ @@ @@@ @@@@ @@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@ @@@ @@ @@@@ @@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@ @@ @@@ @@@@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ @@@ @@@@@@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@@@@ @@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@ @@@ @@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@ @@@@ @@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@@@@@@ @@@@ @@@ @@@@ @@@ @@@ CoffeeScript is a little language that compiles into JavaScript. Installation Once you have Node.js installed: # Install locally for a project: npm install --save-dev coffeescript # Install globally to execute .coffee files anywhere: npm install --global coffeescript Getting Started Execute a script: coffee /path/to/script.coffee Compile a script: coffee -c /path/to/script.coffee For documentation, usage, and examples, see: https://coffeescript.org/ To suggest a feature or report a bug: https://github.com/jashkenas/coffeescript/issues If you’d like to chat, drop by #coffeescript on Freenode IRC. The source repository: https://github.com/jashkenas/coffeescript.git Changelog: https://coffeescript.org/#changelog Our lovely and talented contributors are listed here: https://github.com/jashkenas/coffeescript/contributors
Read the full README on GitHub

What Hacker News says

13 sources
jashkenas·Jul 17, 2010
As a source-to-source language, we try to keep debugging sane by outputting pretty-printed JavaScript that shouldn't be too hard to debug. For example, dropping you right into the middle of the JavaScript that's generated for the CoffeeScript Lexer looks like this: http://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/blob/master/lib/le... Pretty readable. You can use a Webkit or Firebug debugger just as you would with normal JS. It's a golden rule (with one small exception) that there are no CoffeeScript-specific constructs or special functions added to the runtime, no matter how tempting it might be to do so. The single largest headache in practice is having to refer to the generated JS if the exception is vague, and just includes a line number. But I'm not sure that there's anything we can do to mitigate that, other than to keep the JS readable...
In CoffeeScript -- You Are Totally Gonna Hate It
jashkenas·Jul 4, 2010
For extra reading material for the curious, the history of the proposed implementation of "defer" in CoffeeScript: Part I: http://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/issues/issue/241 Part II: http://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/issues/issue/287 Part III: http://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/issues/issue/350 If you have a suggestion for how to handle the bits of "defer" that are still undecided, such as how to handle the "return" statement, and enforce a callback parameter, please feel free to add it to the third ticket.
In Defer: Taming asynchronous javascript with coffeescript
jashkenas·Feb 14, 2010
Oops. I was hoping to post this to HN in a couple of days when it's finished, but the latest commits to CoffeeScript on Github include a compiler that's written entirely in CoffeeScript. It's been compiling itself since Friday. This means that you can compile scripts in the browser, should you choose to, or within Node.js on the server, and greatly increases the speed of the interactive REPL. It's also a nice showcase for what's possible in CoffeeScript. For example, take a peek at the Jison parser, using a little DSL function that makes for a nice style of grammar declaration: http://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/blob/master/src/gr... If you'd like to play with the CoffeeScript-in-CoffeeScript implementation, use bin/node_coffee when you check out the source. bin/coffee remains the Ruby implementation until the CoffeeScript side is
Read the rest
up to feature parity. Here's the original post, things have come a long way since then: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1014080
In Tell HN: Meet CoffeeScript
jashkenas·Jan 27, 2010Submission

Ask HN: Review CoffeeScript 0.3

http://jashkenas.github.com/coffee-script/ CoffeeScript 0.3 was released last night. If you haven't taken a peek at it in a while, now would be a good time to look. Significant whitespace and optional parentheses for method calls have finally gotten settled in together, and things are nice and cozy. Some syntax examples ... jQuery: $('a').click (event) -> event.preventDefault() $(this).hide "slow" $.get "test.json", (data) -> alert "Data Loaded: " + data Poignant Guide: ['toast', 'wine', 'cheese'].each (food) -> print food.capitalize() wish: this.read().detect (thought) -> thought.index('wish: ') is 0 Many more examples can be found on the homepage, and in the examples folder, here: http://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/tree/master/examples/ We've been a little concerned about how all these
Read the rest
pieces fit together, I'd love to hear what you think.
8 points · Open discussion

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