JavaScript is both bizarre and beautiful. It is a language in which 0.1 + 0.2 is not equal to 0.3. But It is also the most used language for open source contributions on GitHub. Inspired by the infinite quirks of JavaScript, Angus Croll, the creator of popular blog JavaScript JavaScript, authored If Hemingway Wrote JavaScript, a book in which he imagines 25 famous novelists, poets and playwrights solving simple problems in JavaScript.

Prose, Poetry, and Programming: A Synopsis of If Hemingway Wrote Javascript

Croll spoke to us about his lovingly-crafted book and commented, “This book is for anyone who loves language. JavaScript is this unconventional language that computer scientists tend to look down on and disparage.”

While some find JavaScript’s syntax and semantics endlessly frustrating, Angus considers its malleability its core strength, “Part of what the book tries to say is that JavaScript is quirky and magical and ridiculously expressive–it has more in common with spoken languages than boring conventional software languages, and that’s something to be proud of.”

Each chapter is dedicated to a specific author, poet or playwright, everyone from Hemingway, Salinger and Shakespeare to Kafka, Kerouac and Tupac. The chapters are spliced with poetic interludes, which use famous literary excerpts to explain features of the language, such as variables, lost callbacks, and refactors.

The book should appeal to lovers of all languages - computer and non-computer alike. Croll explains, “I’m hoping the book also appeals to devotees of literature (speaking as a devotee of literature) and might pique the curiosity of those who have not read some of the featured authors.”

JavaScript is the most popular programming language on Honeypot, with developers in Berlin earning between €30,000 - €60,000 depending on experience.

Reviews of If Hemingway Wrote Javascript

“While If Hemingway Wrote JavaScript will likely appeal most to those acquainted with coding and Kerouac, programmers who wish to approach JavaScript more creatively should find inspiration here, and even the non-programmer can likely appreciate Croll’s enthusiasm and literary humor”
-Kayley Thomas, PopMatters

“Wild experiments are what moves a genre forward. And this is a format of programming book that’s certainly never been tried before.”
-Marjin Haverbeke

You should have this book at hand at all times…so whenever you start feeling disheartened, unmotivated or simply bored with what you are doing…you’ll look at it’s chapters and remember that programming can be fun. That, beyond good and bad parts, beyond best practices and the professional fences with which we surround ourselves, those LEGO sets that we call programming languages, can and should be played with.”
—Javier Alba, JavaScript developer

If Hemingway wrote Javascript: Excerpts

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Emma Tracey

Emma Tracey

Emma is Co-Founder at Honeypot. Emma looks after Product and Marketing and loves working closely with users to deliver new features.