There is something very strange about Javascript. It's not the language itself, which is fairly elegant and capable. It is the programming community around it.
Recently, I've been getting more and more frustrated when trying to find information about Javascript online. With most any other language, you can throw in a few well-chosen keywords in Google - a function name, an object name and method - and you'll pick up one or another form of documentation of reference that explain the usage of this language construct. Not so with Javascript. You find script archives, code snippets, cute little bunnies jumping across your screen - anything but factual information.
Essentially, most people using the language are simply cut-and-pasting code. Nowhere is there any actual insight into the language concepts used, or the algorithms, or anything beyond making bunnies jump across your screen. Horribly inefficient and ugly codes gets cut-and-pasted from page to page, and never once is it modified, optimized or questioned in any way. These code snippets have been passed down from the Gods in their huge flying machines, and are to be revered and never doubted.
Somewhere in this jungle, I'm sure there are people who know what they're doing. But they are few and far between, and don't seem to be very interested in sharing their insights - not necessarily out of malice - they may just be too few to make any sort of organized efforts. There DOES exist actual documentation - after much searching, I did manage to find the Javascript language specs to answer a fairly basic question none of these cargo-cult websites would probably even have understood.
However, recently, a shining beacon of enlightened reason has appeared in this fog bank of xerox mentality: Google seems to have collected a huge amount of people who actuall understand Javascript code, and have by their example shown that the language actually can do. The XMLHttpRequest object, that I myself have been using for several different projects to great effect, has existed in Javascript implementation for quite some time now, but not until Google actually showed people that it exists and can be used has anyone even touched it.
Fuck's sake, I'm tired.