The EcmaScript journey

The changes and benefits of the JavaScript Language

Where it all begins

The first release of EcmaScript was standardized by Ecma International as a standardization effort for JavaScript, which is a popular client-side scripting language. The first version of EcmaScript, known as ES 1.0, was released in June 1997.

ECMA (European Computer Manufacturers Association) was a trade association in the computer industry that was responsible for developing standards for various computer technologies. In the 1990s, Netscape Communications Corporation was developing JavaScript as a client-side scripting language for web browsers. To make JavaScript a standardized language, Netscape submitted JavaScript to Ecma for standardization.

In March 1996, Ecma formed the Technical Committee 39 (TC39) to work on the development of the standard for JavaScript, which ultimately resulted in the release of EcmaScript 1.0.

EcmaScript 1.0 is a basic version of JavaScript that included features like the primitive data types, functions, expressions, and conditional statements. It also included Date, Mathematical and Error handling methods.

EcmaScript 1.0 was a significant standardization effort, which helped to cement the place of JavaScript as one of the most widely used scripting languages on the web. With its standardized syntax and features, EcmaScript 1.0 helped to promote cross-platform interoperability and increase the overall reliability of JavaScript programs.

The release of EcmaScript 1.0 marked the beginning of a new era in web development, where JavaScript became an essential tool for building dynamic and interactive web applications. Over time, the standard continued to evolve, with subsequent releases introducing new features and improvements to the language.

The first steps

The EcmaScript 2 (ES2) was released in June 1998 as an updated version of the initial EcmaScript standard, ES1 with some brief updates and editorial changes.

EcmaScript 3 (ES3) was released in 2000. It introduced several important features, including the try / catch / finally statament, Regular Expressions and the ability to define functions using both function declaration and function expression syntax.

In ES3, objects are defined using the constructor function pattern. This pattern involves defining a function that acts as a constructor for the object and using the new keyword to create new instances of the object. This approach is still widely used in modern JavaScript programming.

One of the major limitations of ES3 is its lack of support for modern programming constructs like classes and modules. It also has some quirks and inconsistencies, such as the use of the with statement and implied global variables, that can make it challenging to write maintainable code.

Despite its age and limitations, ES3 remains an important part of the JavaScript language and is still used extensively in legacy codebases and older web applications. Modern JavaScript engines continue to support ES3 syntax, alongside more recent versions of the language.

The release that fail

EcmaScript 4 (ES4) was first proposed in 2007 and its development continued until 2008 when it was officially abandoned with the release of ES3.1.

ES4 was designed to introduce significant changes and improvements to the ECMAScript language, including a more powerful object model, better support for dynamic and static typing, and a module system for better code encapsulation and reuse. It also included new syntax such as optional semicolons and a new for-in loop.

However, the development of ES4 was plagued by disagreements between different stakeholders, including browser vendors, and the proposed changes were seen by some as too radical and complex. This ultimately led to its abandonment and the decision to instead focus on incremental updates to the existing ES3 standard, leading to the release of ES5 in 2009.

The beginning of a language revolution

EcmaScript 5, also referred to as ES5, was released in 2009.

Some of the most significant changes introduced in ES5 include enhancements to JavaScript's syntax and support for JSON.

Strict mode, introduced in ES5, allows developers to opt-in to a stricter set of rules for their code, enabling them to avoid common JavaScript pitfalls and improve code quality. This feature enables developers to catch errors early in development, and it also encourages better programming habits and safer coding practices.

Another useful feature is the getter and setter functions, which allow developers to define a pair of functions that allow for the manipulation of an object's properties. Getters retrieve the value of a property, and setters allow for the modification of that value. This feature helps simplify the code and reduces the need to write boilerplate code.

ES5 also includes improved support for JSON, which enables developers to serialize data in a standard format that can be easily transferred over the internet. This feature has become incredibly popular, as it enables developers to work with data exchanged in APIs, web applications, and other scenarios.

A little bit later, the EcmaScript 5.1 was released in 2011 and was considered a critical part of the web development ecosystem.

Some of the key features of EcmaScript 5.1 include improved support for object-oriented programming, enhanced error reporting, stricter mode of interpretation, and more.

One significant advantage of EcmaScript 5.1 is its backward compatibility with previous versions of EcmaScript, which makes it easy for developers to migrate their code to the new standard. Its widespread adoption and compatibility make it a popular choice for web development projects, and it is supported by all major web browsers.

JavaScript reveals its power

EcmaScript 6 (ES6), also known as ECMAScript 2015, was the sixth major release of the ECMAScript language specification. It introduces many new features and syntax improvements to make JavaScript code more concise, readable, and maintainable.

Let's take a look at major features introduced in ES6.

• Arrow Functions: Allows developers to write function expressions more concisely, providing a shorthand syntax for writing functions with simple returns.
• Variables asletandconst: Provides block-level scoping for variables, which improves the overall readability and maintainability of code.
• Template Literals: Allows developers to create more readable and expressive strings by embedding expressions directly into string literals.
• Classes: Provides a more intuitive and structured syntax for creating objects and defining their behavior, leading to cleaner and more maintainable code.
• Destructuring: Enables developers to unpack values from arrays or objects more easily, making it easier to work with complex data structures.
• Promises: Provides a cleaner and more structured syntax for handling asynchronous operations, making it easier to write maintainable code that handles complex operations.

JavaScript with more steroids

From EcmaScript 6 onwards, JavaScript gained more power and became even more practical to write elegant, reusable and clean code.

Some of the features are:

• Array.prototype.includes() method: This method allows you to check whether an array contains a certain element or not.
• Exponentiation operator: This operator (**), allows you to perform exponentiation operations in a more concise and readable way.
• Object initialization shorthand: This feature allows you to declare object properties and values more concisely and efficiently.
• Async functions: Async functions simplify asynchronous programming by allowing you to write asynchronous code in a synchronous style.
• Shared memory: This feature enables multiple JavaScript threads to share the same memory space, allowing for faster and more efficient code execution.
• Atomics: This feature provides a set of atomic operations, allowing for safe access to shared memory by multiple threads.
• String padding: This feature provides two new methods (padStart and padEnd) for padding strings with characters.
• Object.values/Object.entries: These methods allow for easier iteration over the values and entries of an object, respectively.

Conclusion

Understanding the history of a programming language is very important. It makes you understand the pros and cons, what was proposed for improvement and what can be useful in the construction of your projects.

Get to know the essence of the programming language you work with.

Understand how all pieces work together so you can build amazing things.

References

• EcmaScript 1: https://www.ecma-international.org/wp-content/uploads/ECMA-262_1st_edition_june_1997.pdf
• EcmaScript 2: https://www-archive.mozilla.org/js/language/E262-2.pdf
• EcmaScript 3: https://www-archive.mozilla.org/js/language/e262-3.pdf
• EcmaScript 4: https://www-archive.mozilla.org/js/language/old-es4
• EcmaScript 5.1+: https://www.ecma-international.org/publications-and-standards/standards/ecma-262/