Although limited by what's possible to express in simple JavaScript, CoffeeScript tries to provide pieces of clear syntax that fit together in harmony. We'll dive into the rationale behind some of CoffeeScript's language choices to look at the trade offs involved, and both the why's and why not's.

Jeremy Ashkenas works on CoffeeScript, Backbone.js, Underscore.js, Docco, and Jammit, among other opensource projects.