Efforts to Resume Progress on FreeJS, LibreJS, and Reduce Dependence on Microsoft
Last week we wrote about FreeJS, LibreJS, and Quibble in relation to the FSF and some people who try to enhance freedom on the Web [1, 2]. "Regarding TypeScript," one participant told us, "I want to assure you that both Alexandre and I HATE Microsoft. We're working with Dr. Stallman to clarify the current TS/JS landscape, but he has unofficially greenlit our approach here. He agrees much has changed since the last time this project was worked on meaningfully, so we've got a big task ahead. Since TypeScript compiles down to pure JavaScript, Microsoft's hands stay completely off the distributed files. Plus, we are shifting the project's hosting from GitHub to Codeberg, so we're actually taking control away from them there. (Yes GitHub, I have no idea how that was allowed for so long - even if it was on there before Microslop bought them)"
Some other day (or month) we'll explain the removal of GitHub and also related issues with some universities that become "partners" with GitHub and slop companies. It is a profound issue - in fact also a form of institutional corruption like kickbacks - that merits a lot of coverage.
"In my honest opinion," we got told, "TypeScript won the web landscape in the last decade simply because pure JavaScript - famously built in just 10 days with some baffling design decisions — is so deeply flawed. While TS is no doubt tied to Microsoft, the tooling is now mature and all Apache 2.0 licensed; if they ever mess with it, the entire web development ecosystem (and larger internet) will revolt. To keep things community-focused, we're planning to build mostly on Deno (from the Anthropic/Bun article a few weeks ago) - which does TS a bit differently than both Node or Bun. Practically speaking, pure JS is so messy that I cannot find anyone at LibreTech or Georgia Tech willing to work on it."
That's a bit of a giveaway regarding who wrote it, but most people involved will know it anyway.
"At Georgia Tech," we learned, "all CS and CompE majors take an "Objects and Design" class where we learn Agile development by building full-stack apps (like making a Spotify clone for me using their public APIs) using Python, and TypeScript. By adopting TS, we instantly tap into a huge pool of students here who already have the exact team-coding and language skills needed to contribute to LibreJS. This isn't just a Georgia Tech thing too, it's how my friends at other large state universities are learning the same web development topics there."
"We have a massive amount of work ahead and are doing this in our spare time. If you know anyone who wants to join as a new GNU maintainer or tester, please forward them to me and I'll get them in our circle! While this isn't tied to Project Sine Iugum yet, it perfectly embodies why I started the LibreTech Collective: to connect brilliant minds in higher education with the world's smartest projects to keep GNU alive for another 40 years and beyond. We might be able to tie LibreJS back into LibreTech down the line, but for now - we just need to keep our heads down, tackle Quibble and LibreJS as separate projects, and get to work with some results soon!"
"I cannot stress enough that we're not building on hype here, but what we think is the most sound technical decisions for the modern web development landscape. We want nothing more but to spread freedom on the internet and Dr. Stallman's ideas of computing freedom; and want to make it more accessible to the wider public in the process for everyone's benefit."
"I forgot to mention," he later added, "a TypeScript rewrite means upcoming versions of LibreJS will seamlessly support both JS and TS projects out of the box."
"A pure JS library requires extra work to support TypeScript, so this approach handles both effortlessly with the least amount of code to be maintained!"
For more information and to get involved visit this official repository.
It's still in a relatively early development stage. █