Join Nizar as we explore the most recent news in the land of JavaScript, some of the features of ECMAScript 2015 (formerly ECMAScript 6) and what all this means for the future of JavaScript. JavaScript is infamous in some circles due to its numerous quirks as a programming language. The Web as a platform has committed to backwards compatibility, so those quirks can never be removed. It’s difficult to make improvements under those constraints, but Ecma’s Technical Committee 39 (TC-39 for short) is the custodian of the JavaScript specification and they are committed to undertaking that enterprise. Spoiler alert: JavaScript is becoming more awesome.

1. The Present and Future of
JavaScript
ES2015 and Beyond
by Nizar Khalife
@khalifenizar

2. Please interrupt me with
questions!

3. THE PRESENT
Part 1 of 6

4. I'm here to talk to you about
JavaScript

5. Or rather, the
JavaScript
specification.

6. In the spec
the language is called
ECMAScript

7. The spec itself is called
ECMA-262

8. The latest version of ECMAScript is the
6th edition
known colloquially as ES6

9. ES6 was finalized in 2015
Thus it's official name is
ES2015

10. This year
ES2016
will be finalized.
But more on that later...

11. But ES6 is
much more
than a bunch of new language features

12. It's a sign of the huge
momentum
of JavaScript
and the Web

13. To really understand
the importance of ES6
we've got to look at
how JavaScript got here.

14. THE PAST
Part 2 of 6

15. JavaScript was first developed
in 10 days
in 1995

16. Needless to say
it wasn't perfect

17. In fact
many of those imperfections
are still there

18. That's because
it was decided
that JavaScript must remain
backwards compatible

19. JavaScript from Web sites
made 15 years ago
should still work

20. To make JavaScript better,
new things must be added
without breaking old things

21. The first
ECMAScript standard
was finalized
in 1997

22. ES2 was finished
in 1998with mostly editorial changes

23. ES3 was finished
in 1999
with a bunch of
new features

24. ES3 rounded out the language
with features like
REGEX

25. ES3 was what I learned
when I first started
writing JavaScript

26. ES3 was
10 years old
at the time

27. JS created in 1995
ES1 finalized 1997
ES2 finalized 1998
ES3 finalized in 1999

28. What happened to that
momentum?

29. Remember ES4?
It had a milestone in 2007

30. 2007?!?!?!
2007 - 1999 = 8 years

31. Also, that milestone was that
it was scrapped
in 2007

32. The committee,
TC39,
couldn't agree

33. Apparently ES4
wanted to do
some crazy stuff

34. Some of that stuff
was used in
later version

35. TC39 went back to
the drawing board
and began work on
ES5

36. ES5 was finalized
in 2009

37. That's
10 years
between versions!

38. This also coincided with
The Dark Age
Of the Web

39. New features
in ES5 JavaScript
but we couldn't use them

40. Why not?
It's time for some
public shaming

41. How many here
know somebody who
NEVER updates
their computer?

42. Couldn't use ES5
when it came out
because of people
like them!

43. Also because of
people in China using
Internet Explorer 7
forever

44. Now modern browsers
update themselves
in spite of users.

45. Old Internet Explorer
is mostly gone.
Microsoft cleaned up their act
with their later browsers

46. That brings us back to
ES6 in 2015

47. 6 years
between
ES5 and ES6

48. THE FUTURE
Part 3 of 6

49. How long between
ES6 and the next?

50. A single year
A SINGLE YEAR

51. In fact, that
is the motivation behind
the version renaming

52. ES6 --> ES2015
ES2016
ES2017

53. TC39 has committed
to new JavaScript
every year

54. This puts pressure
on browsers
to implement features
faster

55. And it's
working!

56. Browsers already
have most
ES2015 features

57. They have some
ES2016 features
as well

58. The future
of JavaScript
is SUPER exciting.

59. From a
10 year gap
to yearly
releases

60. BACK TO
THE PRESENT
Part 4 of 6

61. Today, the TC39
is comprised of
a bunch of
awesome people

62. From amazing organizations
Google
Mozilla
Netflix
jQuery Foundation, etc.

63. They draft features
with the community
and browsers
implement them

64. Different browsers
have different priorities
so they implement
different features

65. Eventually,
we can assume
ES6 support

66. But not yet...
in the meantime
we can write
modern JavaScript

67. And use TOOLs
to compile to
compatible JavaScript

68. One such tool is
Babel

69. Tools like Babel
will never go away

70. They allow us to
ALWAYS
write the JavaScript
of tomorrow

71. OKAY, A COUPLE OF
FEATURES
Part 5 of 6

72. ES6 Features
— Spread Operator
— Arrow Functions
— Template Literals
— Class Syntax
— Object Literals
— Assignment Destructuring
— let & const

73. ES6 Features
And many, many more
Check out ponyfoo.com

74. FINALE
Part 6 of 6

75. The world of JavaScript
is really exciting
right now

76. New features are
pouring in
and they are awesome

77. I hope you enjoy your
JavaScript
adventure

78. About me
Anyway... I've been Nizar Khalife Iglesias.
You can follow me pretty much everywhere
@khalifenizar.

79. About me
I work as the Lead Instructor at Ironhack.

81. We are looking for
mentors
to help our students
in their journey

82. Being a mentor is a
4 hour commitment
across 2 weeks

83. If you want to
pay it forward
talk to me and
apply

84. The Present and Future of
JavaScript
ES2015 and Beyond
Thanks for listening.
bit.ly/uxdev-es2015
@khalifenizar