JavaScript has won the browser...

JavaScript has won the browser...  You may have thought it had already won, but there was still Google's Dart trying hard to supplant JavaScript as a native browser scripting, or at the very least to supplement it.  But now Google has announced that it's giving up.  As a language, Dart will live on – but only as a version that compiles to JavaScript.  That's the end.  There's no other credible effort to replace JavaScript.

There are probably not all that many old farts still around who remember the other half dozen or so scripting languages that have tried to take on JavaScript.  The one that made the most traction was Microsoft's Visual Basic, unless you count their JavaScript variant (JScript) as a separate language.

I think having a standard browser scripting language – even if it's only a de facto standard – is a very good thing indeed.  It feels a bit overdue, as if the railroads had just now agreed on a standard track gauge, or pipe manufacturers had just agreed on standard diameters and threads.  Browser scripting language was already almost at that point – but there was this behemoth out there (Google) declaring their intention to upset that particular apple cart.

No more.  JavaScript has won...