It's worth pointing out that ES versions had been relatively stagnant up until 2015 with the appearance of ES6 - prior to that, ES3 was published in 1999, ES4 was abandoned, ES5 was published in 2009 and ES5.1 was published in 2011. like changes from PHP 5 to PHP 7 or from Python 2 to Python 3). Whereas JavaScript engines are what's included in browsers or other environments to run JavaScript code.ĮCMAScript versions - or ES versions for short - like any other language version are important because they represent new features that make a language more powerful and easier to work with (e.g. This means ECMAScript is a blueprint by which JavaScript engines implement/support the features set forth in the specification. ECMAScriptĮCMAScript is the specification on which JavaScript is based on. It's a list of essential topics you really should have no excuse for not knowing if you plan to work with JavaScript on a day to day basis, with later sections expanding on each of these concepts and tools. What you'll read next is a combination of concepts and tools that are essential to working with modern JavaScript. What you need to do is learn modern JavaScript essentials, to not only help you understand and write better JavaScript, but also to help you quickly weed out thousands of JavaScript projects that don't fit your needs.
The good news is you don't need to give up on JavaScript just because you can't keep up with every JavaScript project that offers a better, greater or faster way of doing things. If you've ever felt overwhelmed or intimidated by the amount of JavaScript projects, you're not alone. While learning curves are a natural part of technology, the reality is nobody has the time to keep up with thousands of projects of anything no matter how good or what they have to offer. This leads to what many in the JavaScript community call JavaScript fatigue: A daily occurrence of new JavaScript projects that creates an almost endless learning curve. And from these broader JavaScript projects, there are thousands more that cover edge cases that only a small percentage of users or only their owners know about. From the handful of JavaScript projects used by 99% of users, there are hundreds more that cover glaring omissions in these major projects. If there's one thing modern JavaScript has it's variety. Modern JavaScript essentials: Concepts and tools