They reveal the programming language used by the James Webb telescope, and some have thrown their hands on their heads

James Webb telescope It’s been on everyone’s lips in recent weeks. Even for people who are not interested in space.

Incredible images you sent us revolutionize space exploration, to the point that some astronomers couldn’t hold back their tears when they saw them. How to do cataract surgery

James Webb technology it’s revolutionary: it sees farther than any other telescope, and with higher resolution. But it turns out that the hardware and software behind it is far from the most advanced in the world…

A few days ago we learned that The James Webb Telescope keeps photographs taken by him… in one 64 GB SSD. It fills up in a day, so he has to constantly send them back to Earth.

The reason is that you have to protect the SSD from radiation and other problems in space, and the simpler it is and the fewer components it has, Less chance of things getting messed up.

Something similar happens with software. The Verge today releases a PDF from NASA explaining that The programming language that James Webb uses is… Javascript.

It is the most popular language for creating web pages, but it has come under fire in recent months. Even prestigious programmers like the creator of the JSON language consider it “dinosaur” what drags performance and security issues.

As the PDF explains, ISIM module, which is responsible for capturing photographs and sending them to Earth, uses a series of scripts written in JavaScriptcarry out their tasks.

Every day from Earth, they select a list of tasks to be performed by running the appropriate JavaScript scripts, although these tasks can later be performed using software written in other languages.

Even more amazing: these scripts are edited with Nombas ScriptEase 5.00esoftware that was last updated… in 2003, almost 20 years ago.

doWhy NASA Uses “Dinosaur” Language in applications that are not a web page, and with software that hasn’t been updated in 20 years?

First of all, PDF has been around for a few years now. It’s possible they’ve updated it since then, but it’s unlikely: NASA uses only proven software.and wouldn’t risk upgrading to a newer version that might contain bugs.

It must be taken into account that in Construction of the Webb Telescope began in 2001., and at the time ScriptEase 5.00e was one of the most used editors. If it hasn’t been updated, then it has no bugs, and if not… why change it?

Once to using Javascriptthe document explains that they chose it because it is a language that uses commands that are close to English, easy to read, and can be modified in seconds like a text document. So it’s very easy to set up tasks on the fly, without compiling and other tedious steps that other languages ​​need.

They have many years of experience, and at NASA everything is thought out and rethought. Nothing is left to chance, everything has a reason behind which there are years of testing.