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ECMAScript 6: what’s next for JavaScript? Dr. Axel Rauschmayer rauschma.de 2014-08-28 Frontend Conference Zurich 2014

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JavaScript has become dangerous Used everywhere: browsers, servers, devices, . . . For much more than it was created for Let’s make it better at those tasks. . . Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 2 / 68

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ECMAScript 6 (ES6): JavaScript, improved ECMAScript 6: next version of JavaScript (current: ECMAScript 5). This talk: Goals Design process Features When can I use it? Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 3 / 68

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Background

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Background Important ES6 terms TC39 (Ecma Technical Committee 39): the committee evolving JavaScript. Members: companies (all major browser vendors etc.). Meetings attended by employees and invited experts. ECMAScript: the official name of the language Versions: ECMAScript 5 is short for “ECMAScript Language Specification, Edition 5” JavaScript: colloquially: the language formally: one implementation of ECMAScript ECMAScript Harmony: improvements after ECMAScript 5 (ECMAScript 6 and 7) Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 5 / 68

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Background Goals for ECMAScript 6 Amongst other official goals [1]: make JavaScript better for complex applications for libraries (including the DOM) as a target of code generators Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 6 / 68

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Background How ECMAScript features are designed Avoid “design by committee”: Design by “champions” (1–2 experts) Feedback from TC39 and the web development community Field-testing and refining via one or more implementations TC39 has final word on whether/when to include Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 7 / 68

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Background How to upgrade a web language? Challenges w.r.t. upgrading: 1 JavaScript engines: New versions = forced upgrades Must run all existing code ⇒ ECMAScript 6 only adds features 2 JavaScript code: Must run on all engines that are in use ⇒ wait or compile ECMAScript 6 to ES5 (details later). Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 8 / 68

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Variables and scoping

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Variables and scoping Block-scoped variables Function scope (var) function order(x, y) { if (x > y) { var tmp = x; x = y; y = tmp; } console.log(tmp===x); // true return [x, y]; } Block scope (let, const) function order(x, y) { if (x > y) { let tmp = x; x = y; y = tmp; } console.log(tmp===x); // ReferenceError: // tmp is not defined return [x, y]; } Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 10 / 68

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Variables and scoping Destructuring: objects Extract data (more than one value!) via patterns: let obj = { first: 'Jane', last: 'Doe' }; let { first: f, last: l } = obj; console.log(f + ' ' + l); // Jane Doe Usage: variable declarations assignments parameter definitions Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 11 / 68

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Variables and scoping Object literals: property value shorthand Shorthand: {x,y} is the same as { x: x, y: y }. let obj = { first: 'Jane', last: 'Doe' }; let { first, last } = obj; console.log(first + ' ' + last); // Jane Doe Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 12 / 68

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Variables and scoping Multiple return values function findElement(arr, predicate) { for (let index=0; index < arr.length; index++) { let element = arr[index]; if (predicate(element)) { return { element, index }; } } return { element: undefined, index: -1 }; } let a = [7, 8, 6]; let {element, index} = findElement(a, x => x % 2 === 0); // element = 8, index = 1 let {index, element} = findElement(...); // order doesn't matter let {element} = findElement(...); let {index} = findElement(...); Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 13 / 68

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Variables and scoping Destructuring: arrays let [x, y] = [ 'a', 'b' ]; // x='a', y='b' let [x, y, ...rest] = [ 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd' ]; // x='a', y='b', rest = [ 'c', 'd' ] [x,y] = [y,x]; // swap values let [all, year, month, day] = /^(\d\d\d\d)-(\d\d)-(\d\d)$/ .exec('2999-12-31'); Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 14 / 68

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Variables and scoping Destructuring: refutable by default Refutable (default): exception if pattern part has no match. { a: x, b: y } = { a: 3 }; // TypeError [x, y] = ['a']; // TypeError [x, y] = ['a', 'b', 'c']; // OK: x='a', y='b' Default value: use if no match or value is undefined { a: x, b: y=5 } = { a: 3 }; // x=3, y=5 { a: x, b: y=5 } = { a: 3, b: undefined }; // x=3, y=5 [x, y='b'] = ['a']; // x='a', y='b' [x, y='b'] = ['a', undefined]; // x='a', y='b' Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 15 / 68

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Parameter handling

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Parameter handling Parameter handling 1: parameter default values Use a default value if parameter is missing. function func1(x, y=3) { return [x,y]; } Interaction: # func1(1, 2) [1, 2] # func1(1) [1, 3] # func1() [undefined, 3] Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 17 / 68

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Parameter handling Parameter handling 2: rest parameters Put trailing parameters in an array. function func2(arg0, ...others) { return others; } Interaction: # func2(0, 1, 2, 3) [1, 2, 3] # func2(0) [] # func2() [] No need for arguments, anymore. Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 18 / 68

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Parameter handling Spread operator (...) Turn an array into function/method arguments: # Math.max(7, 4, 11) 11 # Math.max(...[7, 4, 11]) 11 The inverse of a rest parameter Mostly replaces Function.prototype.apply() Also works in constructors Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 19 / 68

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Parameter handling Parameter handling 3: named parameters Use destructuring for named parameters opt1 and opt2: function func3(arg0, { opt1, opt2 }) { return [opt1, opt2]; } // {opt1,opt2} is same as {opt1:opt1,opt2:opt2} Interaction: # func3(0, { opt1: 'a', opt2: 'b' }) ['a', 'b'] Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 20 / 68

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Arrow functions

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Arrow functions Arrow functions: less to type Compare: let squares = [1, 2, 3].map(function (x) {return x * x}); let squares = [1, 2, 3].map(x => x * x); Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 22 / 68

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Arrow functions Arrow functions: lexical this, no more that=this function UiComponent { var that = this; var button = document.getElementById('myButton'); button.addEventListener('click', function () { console.log('CLICK'); that.handleClick(); }); } UiComponent.prototype.handleClick = function () { ... }; function UiComponent { let button = document.getElementById('#myButton'); button.addEventListener('click', () => { console.log('CLICK'); this.handleClick(); }); } Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 23 / 68

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Arrow functions Arrow functions: versions General form: (arg1, arg2, ...) => expr (arg1, arg2, ...) => { stmt1; stmt2; ... } Shorter version – single parameter: arg => expr arg => { stmt1; stmt2; ... } Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 24 / 68

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Object-orientation and modularity

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Object-orientation and modularity Object literals ECMAScript 6: let obj = { __proto__: someObject, // special property myMethod(arg1, arg2) { // method definition ... } }; ECMAScript 5: var obj = Object.create(someObject); obj.myMethod = function (arg1, arg2) { ... }; Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 26 / 68

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Object-orientation and modularity Classes class Point { constructor(x, y) { this.x = x; this.y = y; } toString() { return '('+this.x+', '+this.y+')'; } } function Point(x, y) { this.x = x; this.y = y; } Point.prototype.toString = function () { return '('+this.x+', '+this.y+')'; }; Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 27 / 68

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Object-orientation and modularity Classes: subclass class ColorPoint extends Point { constructor(x, y, color) { super(x, y); // same as super.constructor(x, y) this.color = color; } toString() { return this.color+' '+super(); } } function ColorPoint(x, y, color) { Point.call(this, x, y); this.color = color; } ColorPoint.prototype = Object.create(Point.prototype); ColorPoint.prototype.constructor = ColorPoint; ColorPoint.prototype.toString = function () { return this.color+' '+Point.prototype.toString.call(this); }; Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 28 / 68

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Object-orientation and modularity Modules: named exports // lib/math.js let notExported = 'abc'; export function square(x) { return x * x; } export const MY_CONSTANT = 123; // main1.js import {square} from 'lib/math'; console.log(square(3)); // main2.js import * as math from 'lib/math'; console.log(math.square(3)); Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 29 / 68

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Object-orientation and modularity Modules: default export // myFunc.js export default function (...) { ... }; // main1.js import myFunc from 'myFunc'; // MyClass.js export default class { ... }; // main2.js import MyClass from 'MyClass'; Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 30 / 68

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Object-orientation and modularity Modules: features More features [3]: Rename imports Module IDs are configurable (default: paths relative to importing file) Programmatic (e.g. conditional) loading of modules via an API Module loading is configurable Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 31 / 68

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Template strings

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Template strings Template strings: string interpolation Invocation: templateHandler`Hello ${first} ${last}!` Syntactic sugar for: templateHandler(['Hello ', ' ', '!'], first, last) Two kinds of tokens: Literal sections (static): 'Hello' Substitutions (dynamic): first Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 33 / 68

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Template strings Template strings: interpolation, raw strings No handler ⇒ string interpolation. if (x > MAX) { throw new Error(`At most ${MAX} allowed: ${x}!`); // 'At most '+MAX+' allowed: '+x+'!' } Multiple lines, no escaping: var str = String.raw`This is a text with multiple lines. Escapes are not interpreted, \n is not a newline.`; Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 34 / 68

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Template strings Template strings: regular expressions ECMAScript 6: XRegExp library – ignored whitespace, named groups, comments let str = '/2012/10/Page.html'; let parts = str.match(XRegExp.rx` ^ # match at start of string only / (? [^/]+ ) # capture top dir as year / (? [^/]+ ) # capture subdir as month / (? [^/]+ ) # file name base \.html? # file name extension: .htm or .html $ # end of string `); console.log(parts.year); // 2012 Advantages: Raw characters: no need to escape backslash and quote Multi-line: no need to concatenate strings with newlines at the end Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 35 / 68

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Template strings Template strings: regular expressions ECMAScript 5: var str = '/2012/10/Page.html'; var parts = str.match(XRegExp( '^ # match at start of string only \n' + '/ (? [^/]+ ) # capture top dir as year \n' + '/ (? [^/]+ ) # capture subdir as month \n' + '/ (? [^/]+ ) # file name base \n' + '\\.html? # file name extension: .htm or .html \n' + '$ # end of string', 'x' )); Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 36 / 68

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Template strings Template strings: other use cases Great for building embedded DSLs: Query languages Text localization Templating etc. Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 37 / 68

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Standard library

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Standard library Maps Data structure mapping from arbitrary values to arbitrary values (objects: keys must be strings). let map = new Map(); let obj = {}; map.set(obj, 123); console.log(map.get(obj)); // 123 console.log(map.has(obj)); // true map.delete(obj); console.log(map.has(obj)); // false Also: iteration (over keys, values, entries) and more. Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 39 / 68

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Standard library Sets A collection of values without duplicates. let set1 = new Set(); set1.add('hello'); console.log(set1.has('hello')); // true console.log(set1.has('world')); // false let set2 = new Set([3,2,1,3,2,3]); console.log(set2.values()); // 1,2,3 Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 40 / 68

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Standard library Object.assign Merge one object into another one. class Point { constructor(x, y) { Object.assign(this, { x, y }); } } Similar to _.extend() from Underscore.js. Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 41 / 68

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Standard library Standard library: new string methods # 'abc'.repeat(3) 'abcabcabc' # 'abc'.startsWith('ab') true # 'abc'.endsWith('bc') true # 'foobar'.contains('oo') true And more. Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 42 / 68

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Standard library Standard library: new array methods # [13, 7, 8].find(x => x % 2 === 0) 8 # [1, 3, 5].find(x => x % 2 === 0) undefined # [13, 7, 8].findIndex(x => x % 2 === 0) 2 # [1, 3, 5].findIndex(x => x % 2 === 0) -1 And more. Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 43 / 68

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Loops and iteration

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Loops and iteration Iterables and iterators Iteration protocol: Iterable: a data structure whose elements can be traversed Iterator: the pointer used for traversal Examples of iterables: Arrays Sets All array-like DOM objects (eventually) Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 45 / 68

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Loops and iteration for-of: a better loop Replaces: for-in Array.prototype.forEach() Works for: iterables Convert array-like objects via Array.from(). Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 46 / 68

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Loops and iteration for-of loop: arrays let arr = ['hello', 'world']; for (let elem of arr) { console.log(elem); } Output – elements, not indices: hello world Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 47 / 68

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Loops and iteration for-of loop: arrays let arr = ['hello', 'world']; for (let [index, elem] of arr.entries()) { console.log(index, elem); } Output: 0 hello 1 world Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 48 / 68

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Loops and iteration Generators: example Suspend via yield (“resumable return”): function* generatorFunction() { yield 0; yield 1; yield 2; } Start and resume via next(): let genObj = generatorFunction(); console.log(genObj.next()); // { value: 0, done: false } console.log(genObj.next()); // { value: 1, done: false } console.log(genObj.next()); // ( value: 2, done: false } console.log(genObj.next()); // ( value: undefined, done: true } Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 49 / 68

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Loops and iteration Generators: implementing an iterator function* iterEntries(obj) { let keys = Object.keys(obj); for (let i=0; i < keys.length; i++) { let key = keys[i]; yield [key, obj[key]]; } } let myObj = { foo: 3, bar: 7 }; for (let [key, value] of iterEntries(myObj)) { console.log(key, value); } Output: foo 3 bar 7 Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 50 / 68

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Loops and iteration Generators: asynchronous programming Using the Q promise library: Q.spawn(function* () { try { let [foo, bar] = yield Q.all( [ read('foo.json'), read('bar.json') ] ); render(foo); render(bar); } catch (e) { console.log("read failed: " + e); } }); Wait for asynchronous calls via yield (internally based on promises). Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 51 / 68

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Symbols

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Symbols Symbols Inspired by Lisp, Smalltalk etc. A new kind of primitive value: # let sym = Symbol(); # typeof sym 'symbol' Each symbol is unique. Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 53 / 68

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Symbols Symbols: enum-style values const red = Symbol(); const green = Symbol(); const blue = Symbol(); function handleColor(color) { switch(color) { case red: ... case green: ... case blue: ... } } Previously: var red = 'red'; var green = 'green'; var blue = 'blue'; Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 54 / 68

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Symbols Symbols: property keys let specialMethod = Symbol(); let obj = { // computed property key [specialMethod]: function (arg) { ... } }; obj[specialMethod](123); Shorter – method definition syntax: let obj = { [specialMethod](arg) { ... } }; Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 55 / 68

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Symbols Symbols: property keys Advantage: No name clashes! Configure objects for ECMAScript and frameworks: Introduce publicly known symbols. Example: property key Symbol.iterator makes an object iterable. Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 56 / 68

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When?

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When? Various other features Also part of ECMAScript 6: Promises Better support for Unicode (strings, regular expressions) Optimized tail calls Proxies (meta-programming) Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 58 / 68

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When? Time table ECMAScript 6 is basically done: Its feature set is frozen. It is mostly being refined now. Features are continually appearing in current engines [4]. Time table: End of 2014: specification is finished (except fixing last bugs) March 2015: publication process starts June 2015: formal publication Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 59 / 68

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When? ES6 today: compilers Two important ones: TypeScript: ECMAScript 6 plus (optional) type annotations Traceur: ES6-to-ES5. Run. . . Statically: via build tools (Grunt, Gulp, Broccoli, etc.) Dynamically (include Traceur, use ) Traceur can generate three kinds of modules: ES6 module loader API (e.g. via shim on ES5) AMD (e.g. RequireJS) CommonJS (e.g. Node.js) (Links embedded in slide.) Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 60 / 68

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When? ES6 today: module systems AMD and CommonJS: ES6 Module Transpiler (ES5 + ES6 module syntax) Browserify: es6ify transform (based on Traceur) webpack: es6-loader ES6 Module Loader Polyfill: based on ES6, for Node.js and browsers. Complemented by: SystemJS: additionally loads AMD and CommonJS jspm.io: package manager for SystemJS Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 61 / 68

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When? ES6 today: shims ES6 standard library, backported to ES5: es6-shim (by Paul Millr): most of the ES6 standard library Shims for ES6 promises (Traceur has its own): RSVP.js: superset of ES6 API es6-promise: only ES6 API (subset of RSVP.js) Q.Promise: is compatible with ES6 Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 62 / 68

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Conclusion

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Conclusion Take-aways: ECMAScript 6 Many features are already in engines [4] Can be used today, by compiling to ECMAScript 5 Biggest impact on community (currently: fragmentation): Classes Modules Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 64 / 68

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Thank you! Blog post: Using ECMAScript 6 today My book (free online!): SpeakingJS.com

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Annex (links embedded in slides)

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Annex (links embedded in slides) References 1 ECMAScript Harmony wiki 2 “The Harmony Process” by David Herman 3 “ES6 Modules” by Yehuda Katz 4 “ECMAScript 6 compatibility table” by kangax [features already in JavaScript engines] Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 67 / 68

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Annex (links embedded in slides) Resources ECMAScript 6 specification drafts by Allen Wirfs-Brock ECMAScript mailing list: es-discuss TC39 meeting notes by Rick Waldron “Using ECMAScript 6 today” by Axel Rauschmayer Dr. Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma.de) ECMAScript 6 2014-08-28 68 / 68