For me: runs faster than its rivals/variations minimal CPU/memory consumption, does not block the main thread does not need update => throw it there, and after 15 years, if it still performs on the new platform without error does one thing, and only one thing. Readability is nowhere in the top 5 for me, I could care less, unless I have to work with 10 other people simultaneously.

PHP syntax is not messy, I can tell you as someone who dealt with javascript (ES3/ES5/ES6 + node.js). The problem is this: the syntax of PHP is sugar. So everyone goes there, search for what they need, and then copy paste it. However there is a whole object oriented syntax of PHP which you can learn to use. That makes things way better to manage in the long term. I have been working with js for over 10 years and I must say PHP object oriented/class syntax is not even comparibly agile to javascript, but it is still a good option. Invest time in it and you will be ok. You cannot go very wrong with a backend language, however PHP + apache is a battle tested veteran combination, so your chance of "ruin" is minimal. That being said, if you hate it, do not use it, use something else, asking someone elses opinion is not very helpful since opinions are usually subjective and based on project. In my case, I use PHP for only API communication, that means my client side is a ajax/fetch based SPA and PHP only returns/receives communication between databases/client, that's it.

I prefer old school, black on white, default & bland theme. It does its job. Turns out white on black background is not that healthy after all: https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/53264/dark-or-white-color-theme-is-better-for-the-eyes To be very honest, I think 99% of devs out there keep using it because they think its cool. I dont give 2 craps about it, if it makes them happy, good for them.

welcome to <code>requestAnimationFrame</code>. if you cannot give away from <code>setTimeout</code>, consider at least checking <code>document.hidden</code>.

I love VScode for markdown, however I will not lie, I still use notepad++, because it opens sooooo fast.

Focused libraries that does 1 thing, and 1 thing well with 0 pain of setting it up, please. Really tired of dealing with tech stacks that claim to do all with the most modern/cool way with tons of config and gotchas while doing nothing out of the box.

A lot of people said good points, I will just underline one thing that you mentioned about reaching people/companies via a language/tech. I find this quite a double-edged sword because do not forget that the people/companies that provided you an opportunity just because a tech stack is trendy, will not refrain from putting you out of a job once another trend is getting traction. I'm sure there are companies out there that value deep vertical knowledge about a specific topic. Follow your passion, not the trends. (this is hard, very hard given the conditions in life, but not impossible)

ars gratia artis

Yes why not? See this: http://deogen2.mutaframe.com/ Not a droplet of framework. This does not mean that frameworks are bad though. And also maybe I got your question wrong, what do you mean by pure JS? Eventually everything is "pure" js.

I guess it is akin to working with layers, like in adobe. You create an object with certain prototype, than you create another object to inherit from that. And yet another object that does finally render something on screen. And then benind all this you have some sort of state to control what is going on and what should be fired etc. It is means (for me) to work in layers that depend on each other