I don't think it's fair that he should be allowed to use the name "CoffeeScript 2."<p>I feel that it implies that it's an official project, but it's actually a re-implementation and separate project.<p>And if they're not backwards compatible it could lead to a ton of confusion and a fragmented language.<p>I think if you want your own project then you should at the very least get your own name.
Very much looking forward to seeing how this turns out. To view a list of some of the public-facing things Michael wants to change, take a look here:<p><a href="https://github.com/michaelficarra/coffee-of-my-dreams" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/michaelficarra/coffee-of-my-dreams</a>
Forgive me for being skeptical, but it seems to me that CoffeeScript is going the way of Lisp: a language by hackers for hackers, with way too many incompatible implementations because each implementer has their own pet features that must be included.
The phrase "proper compiler-design principles" really gets on my nerves for some reason. It instantly makes me doubt the ability of the person saying it. It seems to say "I've heard of Lex/Yacc and once glanced at the Dragon Book".<p>Anyway, I gather the OP is a coffeescript core contributor, so my default opinion is probably wrong in this case, hopefully.
This and nine more CoffeeScript derivates* from people who rather like to fragment a landscape with marginal improvements instead of supporting the leading pack are the reasons that CoffeScript hasn't reach critical mass and will fail as a standard.<p>* <a href="https://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/wiki/List-of-languages-that-compile-to-JS" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/wiki/List-of-lang...</a>
Here is a relevant groupon blog post: <a href="https://engineering.groupon.com/2012/javascript/looking-forward-to-an-interesting-summer/" rel="nofollow">https://engineering.groupon.com/2012/javascript/looking-forw...</a><p>How about multiple backend support? Perhaps then someone could add a dart or NaCl backend.
So... I hope this isn't the future of updates to open source projects... crowd fund us or we won't do it... starting to see a pattern projects using this technique (albeit none are out rightly saying them won't its just implied)... not sure its a healthy development myself.
When I saw the empty repo (just with the README) and before reading the kickstarter page or comments here, I thought it was another vapor.js-like joke as a compliment to the original compiler, which IMO does it very well.