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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

21 sources
jasode·Oct 20, 2015
>Variable initialization and reassignment are the same It’s easy to accidentally overwrite a variable from a higher scope as a codebase increases in depth. Yep. There was a previous July 2013 article and related reddit thread about it.[1] The CoffeeScript compiler devs themselves were bitten by their own strange scoping rules! As to the other question about why people don't just write raw Javascript, Eric Lippert explained why plain Javascript is inadequate if you want to do more than just "make the monkey dance"[3] -- a.k.a. "large complex apps". [1]https://www.reddit.com/comments/1j1cw7 [2]https://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/commit/7f1088054c... [3]http://programmers.stackexchange.com/a/221658
In Goodbye CoffeeScript, Hello TypeScript
drinchev·Mar 12, 2015
I also agree with what you are saying. JS in terms of usage is so big that I guess developers behind JS compilers will have to optimize for "the most popular way of solving that problem". In any case, why I mentioned preprocessors is that there is a lot of history behind every feature. As of this there are a couple of github issues [1] that explain why this approach has been used. For the performance. Seems that "new" is way faster. [2] [1] : https://github.com/jashkenas/coffeescript/issues/912 [2] : https://jsperf.com/obj-create-vs-new/4
In New-less JavaScript (2013)
timmfin·Feb 28, 2015
Despite being a huge CoffeeScript fan, having convinced our company to use it for the past 3+ years, and personally using it for ~5 years (https://github.com/jashkenas/coffeescript/issues/439), this article is missing one point. Community. Yes, there will be a CoffeeScript community that lingers on, but as things are looking now it won't be near as vibrant as it once was. Not only are there (seemingly) less people using CoffeeScript, but major related projects—such as CoffeeScriptRedux—are closing up shop (see this comment: https://github.com/michaelficarra/CoffeeScriptRedux/issues/3... ). On the other hand, ES6 (and transpilers like Babel and Tracuer) are very popular right now. Some of that is hype & fad, but a lot of it is legitimate. In particular, I think that changes like the new module syntax are going to dramatically change Javasc
Read the rest
ript development (even if we all transpile, speaking a unified module language is a huge improvement). So, while I think it is totally reasonable to continue using CoffeeScript (and part of me really wants to!), it is hard to ignore/shun the community and momentum being ES6. For a while I was optimistically thinking that someone would eventually release CoffeeScript 2 (or even better, CoffeeScript6) that intentionally broke backwards compatibility to merge with ES6 semantics (classes, modules, etc). But now I'm thinking that is less and less likely (IMHO, CoffeeScriptRedux seemed like the best chance for that to happen). I don't know if I'm ready to completely give up hope yet, but I think the article misses the point, community—and the (potential?) lack thereof—is one of, if not the most important thing to consider regarding your choice of language.
In Don’t Replace CoffeeScript with ES6 Transpilers

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