Xah Talk Show 2026-01-26 Ep750 on standard js (style), JavaScript info site review
Video Summary (Generated by AI, Edited by Human.)
The video, "Xah Ep750 rants, on standard js (style), JavaScript info site review," features Xah Lee discussing JavaScript coding styles, tutorials, and documentation practices (0:01).
Here's a breakdown of the key topics:
- Ergonomic Keyboards and Devices (0:14-2:13): Xah Lee showcases his Ultimate Hacking Keyboard (UHK) (0:14) and other ergonomic devices like the Nulea trackball (1:49) and Huion drawing pad (2:02), mentioning his video reviews of various ergonomic keyboards.
- Critique of Programming Tutorials (3:16-8:50): He criticizes older W3Schools tutorials (3:16) for being error-prone and discusses how many early programming tutorials were written by "elite" programmers (3:49) who didn't cater to beginners. He contrasts this with the rise of corporate-sponsored tutorial websites (4:41) and the lack of documentation in the 1990s (7:17).
- Rise of Stack Overflow (7:51-8:50): Xah Lee explains how Stack Overflow gained popularity by enforcing rules that ensured users received direct answers to questions, addressing the problem of unhelpful or off-topic responses in the programming community. He notes its decline due to AI (8:41).
- Review of JavaScript.info (9:30-56:07): He reviews the JavaScript.info tutorial website, initially expressing skepticism about its unknown authors (9:41). He evaluates its sections on coding style guides (10:30), BigInt (32:36), and string handling, particularly the problematic "code unit" concept (35:38) when dealing with emojis. He also critiques the site's explanation of the null value (48:52) and its inclusion of seemingly outdated or irrelevant topics like "Mocha" testing (55:09).
- Deno Recommendation (21:45-25:10): Xah Lee strongly recommends Deno for formatting JavaScript code (24:46) and criticizes Node.js and npm (24:51). He also shares his opinion on the Deno logo change (22:09), humorously remarking on its new appearance (23:17).
- Self-Promotion and Comparison (45:18-47:37): He compares his own JavaScript tutorial to JavaScript.info's, highlighting his detailed coverage of string immutability and the "code unit" concept (46:28).
console.log("🦋".length); // 2 console.log("a🦋b".substring(1, 2)); // � console.log("a🦋b".substring(1, 3)); // 🦋 // s------------------------------ console.log(typeof null); // object
