Hmm. Java might be known by more, if just from the fact that those who take an introductory CS course as an elective in another major will get their lessons in it. But, as a lingua franca, it sucks even worse.
Mind that term, actually: while French itself was just an average European language, it was handy, for political reasons, for diplomats of all stripes to pick up—and somewhat easy, presuming you had studied texts in Latin. JS is much the same: a lot of us might not prefer it when writing our own code, but we can all certainly read it, given its ALGOL derivation, and it's certainly more pithy than, say, C, for communicating the kind of concepts we need to communicate (like FRP.)
> But, as a lingua franca, it sucks even worse. Mind that term, actually: while French itself [...]
Mind that term even more, because despite the similar "fr--" sound, it does not actually denote the French language.
"Lingua franca" is actually an Italian term for "Frankish language", during a time (post-middle-ages) when "Franks" often referred to Western Europe in general.
While French is an example of a language which fit the definition for a period of time, it is not the source of its name.
Mind that term, actually: while French itself was just an average European language, it was handy, for political reasons, for diplomats of all stripes to pick up—and somewhat easy, presuming you had studied texts in Latin. JS is much the same: a lot of us might not prefer it when writing our own code, but we can all certainly read it, given its ALGOL derivation, and it's certainly more pithy than, say, C, for communicating the kind of concepts we need to communicate (like FRP.)