The language offers clean syntax, modularity, and easy debugging in browsers Credit: Thinkstock The field of languages compiling to JavaScript is growing with the arrival of Cor, which is intended to meld modern capabilities with an ease of use harking to earlier days. Under construction by Cuban developer Yosbel Marin, open source Cor compiles to JavaScript, similar to what other languages such as CoffeeScript, Dart, and TypeScript already do. But Marin sees Cor making a difference. “We all remember front-end development in [the] ‘90s when all we needed was to add a script tag,” Marin said in an email. “Nowadays, we have a more complex Web in order to improve user experience.” This has resulted in more complexity and bloating of the JavaScript syntax and ecosystem, he said. However, Cor is as “straightforward as JavaScript was in early days, but is devised to make Web development fun again.” The language’s highlights include a clean syntax for writing large applications, a modular architecture for maintaining code, and source maps for easy debugging in major browsers. Born in mid-2015, Cor is currently at version 0.3.0 and is a work in progress, with developer contributions welcome. Its resulting JavaScript code should run in Node.js, Nashorn, or any other JavaScript engine, said Marin. Currently, Cor can be used only in small projects because some features may change in future releases, he said. “Right now, I’m focused on the documentation and two TodoMVC examples using Angular.js and Backbone.js to help people to get started with the language.” JavaScriptWeb DevelopmentSoftware Development