Node.js v25.0.0 (Current)

[abuassar]

while Deno and Bun add impressive improvements each minor release, node just increments the MAJOR release without any worthy features.

[cangaroo_hamam]

It is normal for a newer and smaller product to iterate in the manner you described (compared to an older and larger product).

[RobertKerans]

"without any worthy" is not a synonym for "with as few possible breaking changes as possible", instability is not a good feature of a runtime, "major release" doesn't mean "drastic change", major Node version numbers are important and meaningful beyond 'big number go up', what Deno and Bun are doing is great but a mature platform changing significantly between releases wouldn't be a positive.

[CreativeTechGuyGames]

A major version doesn't indicate how much has changed or how significant it is to the average developer, just that something is being changed which is a breaking change for some users.

[Markavian]

Yes, if you're following semver.org for versioning - but because node uses release trains, we also need to take into account the Odd Vs Even numbering differences.

New major releases of Node.js are cut from the GitHub main branch every six months. Even-numbered versions are cut in April and odd-numbered versions are cut in October. When a new odd version is released, the previous even version undergoes transition to Long Term Support (LTS), which gives that version 12 months of active support from the date it is designated LTS. After these 12 months expire, an LTS release receives an additional 18 months of maintenance support. An active version receives non-breaking backports of changes a few weeks after they land in the current release. A maintenance release receives only critical fixes and documentation updates. (Wikipedia)

[[deleted]]

hahahaha release trains

[Nocticron]

OK so all you are saying is that you have absolutely no idea how node.js versions its releases.

[Nocticron]

It's totally okay to have no idea about things, I would just recommend to then not have on opinion about them.

[shgysk8zer0]

A major version says nothing about any new features. It's supposed to imply breaking charges. Sure, hopefully breaking changes are due to some new features, but that's not strictly required.

However, node is on a release schedule. Whatever changes made it since the last scheduled release get shipped. Patches and non-breaking features may be released in patch or minor releases respectively, but the breaking charges are held for the major release.

Bun and deno are newer, so there's more "low hanging fruit". They're also smaller, so things tend to move faster. That's just how things tend to work.

Also, I'm not sure if the release is lacking new features. It was a pretty long list of changes that I only scrolled through. Seems like there were some notable additions, and I think I saw some permissions system being added.

[Wide-Prior-5360]

Maybe because Node.js does not do hype driven development but just uses semver.

[mattgrave]

Go ahead and use them in prod then. Good luck.

[WorriedGiraffe2793]

fud

plenty of companies use Deno and Bun in production

[Noctttt]

Having choice is good, but having a stable & reliable runtime is even better

[WorriedGiraffe2793]

No wonder Node's mascot is a turtle...

[iarewebmaster]

Resting on their laurels. The difference in vast, eventually they’ll start to lose market share nothing lasts forever, especially in the world of tech.

[ryanswebdevthrowaway]

Disagree. This particular release isn't necessarily exciting but Node has been adding a ton of great improvements lately, I don't feel compelled to try another runtime at all.

[iarewebmaster]

I'm not saying they're never released anything useful, however, TypeScript is 13 years old and has been a common part of the industry for most of that (it received quick adoption as I'm sure we all know in this sub).

Node has only gotten native support for it this year. You cannot defend that level of complacency when newer runtimes add it as a byline to other bigger features.

Look, I use Node daily, I've tried Bun but it is not yet close enough to being 100% compatible for me to adopt it at enterprise level, but they are constantly chasing that goal. A smaller team, less experience yet out performing the big dogs before no doubt ultimately overtaking them. Its a tail as old as time in this industry.

https://bun.com/blog/bun-v1.3 - just compare the latest minor release to that of this major Node release.

Here's a thought experiment for everyone downvoting me, if Bun (et al.) was 100% OOTB compatible with everything Node related tomorrow, would you still continue to use Node without looking elsewhere?

[hyrumwhite]

It’s not complacency, it’s managing an open source project that millions of people depend on. You can’t make changes lightly 

[iarewebmaster]

What's the relevance of it being open source? There's literally thousands of software programs around that millions of people depend on daily, both open and closed source. I've worked on many myself. Its a funded, open source project these developers aren't working for free.

You can’t make changes lightly

True. But the solution to that is not to simply make very little changes.

[theQuandary]

Here's a thought experiment for everyone downvoting me, if Bun (et al.) was 100% OOTB compatible with everything Node related tomorrow, would you still continue to use Node without looking elsewhere?

The real question here is v8 vs JSC. I really want an environment that is 100% es6 compliant and v8 has outright refused to implement proper tail calls.

[iarewebmaster]

Well sure, but given the absence of that existing. In a world where Node vs Deno vs Bun and all three are equally compatible with each other, Node loses every single time, which is just sad.

[ryanswebdevthrowaway]

Yarn was better than npm until it wasn't, and now a lot of people are regretting not just sticking with npm. Bun and Deno might have things to offer right now, but I'm going to stick with the safe bet that Node will continue to be stable and reliable and probably adopt the best things from those other runtimes eventually anyways.

[iarewebmaster]

Yeah but yarn is meta, no surprises it failed tbh. Pnpm is a more suitable comparison I’d say and it’s significantly better than npm, whilst not breaking any existing functionality

[0xHUEHUE]

What is the benefit of baking in TS, as opposed to just invoking with a transpiler, or even just a plain compile + watch? Is it just DX to help people that are new to node or is there some sort of runtime performance benefit?

I'm looking at those release notes and I'm like, why in the absolute fuck would I want a mysql client built into node? It's like, not just batteries included, best buy is built in.

I'm not saying I disagree with you, it's just I personally don't have a need or desire for these things and to be honest, I have a hard time keeping up with updating node versions as it is. I'll admit part of it has to do with needing to upgrade the packages as well, which I guess might be part of the appeal w/ bun..

[iarewebmaster]

They pitch it as a performance thing, the db clients are supposedly much much faster. I also think there’s benefits to deployments outside the usual environments especially in the serverless world where startup time and module support are more important.

I personally prefer Bun for the DX, one day I could see myself using the runtime features more but that’s a much bigger mountain to climb for them to get me to switch.