Comment by jmull

That's not really a useful way to think of it.

Javascript could not have been released perfect for all current and future uses. Thus it either needed to change or fall out of use.

It changed.

The linting is simply part of a migration mechanism that allows for the change to happen. Compatibility is maintained for existing code, while on-going and future development can avoid the bad/obsolete parts. It's not random that eslint has such fine-grained configurability -- it allows each code base to migrate at whatever rate makes sense for it.

So all this is simply a product of javascript's longevity, which itself is a testament to its utility and flexibility. You call it "weird" but it would be a damn shame if it wasn't as useful and flexible as it is.