Re: Crippled C++
Java became popular because people wrote useful tools in it, including a browser plug-in.
JavaScript became popular because the web is popular and it was supported by browsers, which made it very easy to do some of the simple dynamism that people wanted to do.
But importantly JavaScript is also object-based, built on fast associative arrays, the object model is efficient, it has syntactic flexibility, it allows functions references and the syntax allows for useful brevity. All of that, when combined with the DOM made it relatively easy to deploy complex web applications.
Internet Explorer allowed VBScript in web pages but its dumbed-down, clumsy syntax didn't stand a chance against JavaScript.
(But yes, wouldn't it have been so nice if it had supported strict typing.)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
