[Edbrowse-dev] js befuddle

[Karl Dahlke <eklhad@comcast.net>]

As I move forward with javascript, as time permits,
I just have to comment, or vent, at least once, on the state of js.
Not the language, that's fine, but the way people write it.
I'm convinced there is a program out there somewhere that is
called js_befuddle(), that strips the whitespace and comments
out of any js program, and changes the variables to meaningless
single letters.
It can't be coincidence; I've seen too much javascript code written like that.
My router for instance, has a js file that is 10K,
all on one line, no whitespace, no comments, and cryptic variables.
10K of what looks like line noise.

But it's worse than that.
Most of these programs hide operations in functions
when they don't need to, and even prototype on top of existing methods,
so that the standard string and array methods don't do
what you expect them to do.
Imagine if s.split(',') does something completely different than you expect.
It's worse than reading assembly language!

I guess they are thinking along these lines:
"My js code has to be public, I can't hide it,
I have to release the source, and I'm paranoid, so I'm going to make
it confusing and convoluted and impossible to understand."

Gee, thanks alot.

Most people would never know or care,
but if I want to know why edbrowse doesn't work on a site,
I have to trudge through all this shit to figure it out.
My goal then is to find some real world sites where edbrowse doesn't work,
and where the js is simple, short, and comprehensible;
and then hope those problems are representative of the shortfalls
of edbrowse js in general.
Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and all the saints!

Karl Dahlke