The November 2017 JS Digest covers updates in core JavaScript technologies such as Vue.js 2.5, Node.js transitions to long-term support, Firefox Quantum's performance improvements, and Angular 5's faster build times. It also discusses the integration of Snyk with Chrome's Lighthouse for security audits and highlights several new tools and features like npm's new security measures and multithreading support from Microsoft for Node.js. Additionally, the document presents popular programming languages of 2017 and offers resources for testing responsive layouts.

1. JS Digest
November 2017
By Dmytro Mysak,
Software Developer

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▪ Vue.js 2.5
▪ Node v8.7.0, v8.9.0 (LTS) &&
Node v9.0.0 (Current)
▪ WebRender is coming…
▪ WebVR and Windows 10
Creators Update
▪ Angular 5 Comes & Faster
Incremental Compilation
▪ Chrome 63 Beta
▪ Snyk in Chrome's Lighthouse
▪ WebStorm 2017.3
▪ V8 Release 6.3
▪ Microsoft + Google + Mozilla
= Web Documentation
▪ Microsoft & multithreading to
Node.js
▪ NPM Releases New Security
Features
▪ "Happy Path" to HTTPS
▪ Testing Responsive
▪ 5 Node.js Alternatives To
WordPress
▪ Popular Programming
Languages of 2017

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Vue.js 2.5
▪ Official Roadmap
▪ There is now an official Vue.js roadmap (details here )
▪ Improved TypeScript support
▪ Now, as a result, in Vue 2.5 you can get builtin autocomplete suggestions and type hints
even if you’re not using TypeScript. This works with any editor that supports the
language-server-protocol.
▪ Functional Single-File-Components
▪ Templates now support the functional attribute, which means it is now possible to write
functional components without using render functions or JSX directly.
▪ Injected properties can now declare default values in the same way as props can.
▪ Over 15 bugs were fixed.
And many more here

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Node v8.7.0, v8.8.0, v8.9.0 && Node v9.0.0 (Current)
▪ Node.js 8.x is now in LTS!
▪ Node v8.9.0 marks the transition of Node v8.x into Long Term Support (LTS), with
the codename "Carbon". The v8.x line now moves into "Active LTS", and will
remain so until April 2019.
▪ For Node.js 9, most changes centered on the migrating the code base to a new error
system. The goal of the migration is associating a unique code with errors thrown by the
system.
▪ An async hooks module that provides an API for registering callbacks to track
asynchronous resources within an application.
▪ The Google V8 6.2 JavaScript engine.
▪ Support for HTTP/2, which are available for use without a command line flag
but are still experimental.
Find more details here and here.

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The Firefox Quantum released
▪ Firefox Quantum is over twice as fast as Firefox from 6 months ago;
▪ New User Interface - Photon UI;
▪ Google became new default search provider in the United States and Canada;
▪ WebRender:
Find more details here, here and here.

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The Firefox Quantum released.
WebRender
With WebRender apps run at a silky smooth 60 frames per second (FPS) or better no matter
how big the display is or how much of the page is changing from frame to frame.
Read more on how WebRender works here

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Bringing WebVR to everyone with the Windows 10 Fall
Creators Update
▪ On October 17th, EdgeHTML 16 was released with Windows 10 Fall Creators Update,
and the era of Windows Mixed Reality begins.
▪ Adding support to the browser is only half of the story. Microsoft have been working
with 3rd party middleware libraries to make sure that integrating support for motion
controllers into your experience is as seamless a process as possible.
More here.

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Angular 5 Comes with Faster Incremental Compilation
▪ Build Optimization. CLI 1.5 will generate v5 projects with build optimization turned on
by default, generating smaller bundles
▪ Compiler. The Angular compiler supports incremental builds, managing to reduce the
build time by 90% in tests on real projects by using Typescript transforms.
▪ Domino. Angular now supports Domino, a server-side DOM implementation, adding
support for more component JavaScript libraries to the server side.
▪ Internationalization. Angular 5 has new pipes for date, number and currency for better
internationalization support across browsers.
▪ The latest Angular introduces some breaking changes, but nothing problematic. One of
them is the dependence on TypeScript 2.4.x. Also, some code sections have been
deprecated.
Read more here and here.

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Chrome 63 Beta
▪ Dynamic module imports
import('./dialogBox.js')
.then(dialogBox => {
dialogBox.open();
})
.catch(error => {
/* Error handling */
});
▪ Async iterators and generators
for await (const chunk of streamAsyncIterator(response.body)) {
// some code...
}
▪ Permissions UI changes
▪ From ignorable banners at the bottom of the screen to modal dialogs.
▪ Device Memory API
▪ The new Device Memory JavaScript API helps developers with this challenge by
using the total RAM on a user’s machine to provide insights into device constraints.
Read more here.

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Snyk is Now Integrated with Chrome's Lighthouse
Lighthouse is an open-source automated tool from Google Chrome that tests websites
against a suite of best-practices and metrics, providing a detailed report so developers can
see exactly how they stack up, and how to improve.
Snyk is now powering the brand-
new vulnerable JavaScript audit
in Google Chrome’s Lighthouse,
the auditing tool built by the
Google Chrome team that checks
for how performance, accessible
and secure your site is.
Read more here

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WebStorm 2017.3
▪ Improvements in webpack support - webStorm now understands webpack
configuration files that are composed of several parts or have multiple targets.
▪ Suggestion to install TypeScript type declarations
▪ Optimizing project indexing
▪ Updated Live Edit configuration
▪ Improved Angular support
Read more here and here.

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V8 Release 6.3
Every six weeks, a new branch of V8 is created as part of release process. Newest branch
was announced, V8 version 6.3, which is in beta until its release in coordination with
Chrome 63 Stable in several weeks.
▪ Speed:
▪ The parser now does not need to preparse a function a second time.
▪ string.js has been completely ported to CodeStubAssembler. As a developer this
means that builtin string functions like String#trim are a lot faster starting with
6.3.
▪ ECMAScript language features. V8 shipped the following stage 3 features: Dynamic
module import via import(), Promise.prototype.finally and async iterators/generators.
Read more here.

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Microsoft, Google, and Mozilla Team Up for Web
Documentation
▪ In a coordinated announcement, three major browser vendors have agreed to
consolidate their individual web API reference documentation into Mozilla's MDN and
have formed an advisory group to guide future efforts.
▪ In a blog post from Microsoft, senior dev writer Erika Doyle Navara wrote that they
have "started redirecting over 7,700 MSDN pages to corresponding topics in the MDN
web docs library" and have made 5,000 edits on MDN to update the compatibility
tables for Edge.
▪ MDN is a wiki, and developers can login with a GitHub account to make changes.
Mozilla says that this year "8,021 users made 76,203 edits".
Read more here.

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Microsoft adds multithreading to Node.js for compute-
heavy apps
Microsoft’s beta Napa.js runtime is offering multithreaded support for the Node.js server-
side JavaScript platform, to provide the flexibility of JavaScript with speedy performance
akin to C++’s.
Napa.js is a multi-threaded JavaScript runtime built on V8, which was originally designed to
develop highly iterative services with non-compromised performance in Bing.
Napa.js also has:
▪ A Node.js-compatible module architecture with support for NPM.
▪ An API for object-sharing, and asynchronous processing capabilities on
JavaScript threads.
Read more here.

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NPM Releases New Security Features
▪ Two-factor authentication (2FA);
▪ Now, you can sync your npm account with an authentication application
like Google Authenticator. When you log in, you’ll be prompted for a
single-use numeric code generated by the app;
▪ 2FA is another layer of defense for your account, preventing third parties
from altering your code even if they steal or guess your credentials;
▪ Read-only tokens;
▪ If your continuous integration / continuous deployment (CI/CD)
workflow includes linking your npm account to tools like Travis CI with
authentication tokens, you can now create read-only tokens for tools that
don’t need to publish. You can also restrict tokens to work from only
specified ranges of IP addresses;
▪ Even if your token is compromised — for example, if you accidentally
commit it to GitHub — no one else can alter your code, and only
authorized CI servers will be able to download your code.
Read more here.

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The 6-Step "Happy Path" to HTTPS
1. Get a Free Cert
2. Add a 301 "Permanent Redirect"
3. Add HSTS
4. Change Insecure Scheme References
5. Add The upgrade-insecure-requests CSP
6. Monitor CSP Reports
Read more here and here.

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7 Free Tools For Testing Responsive Layouts
1. Xrespond
2. Responsinator
3. Responsive design checker
4. Google mobile test
5. Matt kersley’s responsive tool
6. Am I responsive?
7. Designmodo responsive test
Read more here.

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5 Node.js Alternatives To WordPress
▪ KeystoneJS is a powerful CMS framework, build on Express and MongoDB. It gives you an
easy way to create dynamic projects with well-structured routes, templates and models.
▪ EnduroJS offers a fast and easy way to build your project, beautiful and simple admin UI and
integrated tools to build everything on the server. It works without a database, instead relying
on a system of flat files that can be opened directly in a text editor. It is easy to install and can
be deployed via Git.
▪ Apostrophe offers powerful front and back-end search features, rich text editor, fast
performance, and drag-and-drop editting right on the page. It is very user-friendly with
detailed documentation and an active community.
▪ Ghost is a modern and powerful blogging platform that you can already see on some popular
websites. It is easy to set up and has simple and optimized design, focused on providing the
best possible writing experience.
▪ Hexo is a simple and powerful blogging framework where each post is written
in markdown format and rendered into a static page with proper layout and
styles.
Find out more here.

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The Most Popular Programming Languages of 2017
Which programming languages do
employers want?
What programming languages do
coders use?

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The Most Popular Programming Languages of 2017
What programming languages do coders like?
Read more here.

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