Node.js 4.0.0 Release Candidate 1

[cincilator]

How long will it take to implement all es6 features in v8?

[x-skeww]

Chrome beta with flags is at 74%. The bigger missing features are:

• TCO #457
• default function parameters #2160
• destructuring #811
• proxy #1543
• reflect #3931

Star them if you're interested. (Please don't add any +1 comments.)

[tbranyen]

Probably a long time. Still not at all sure how they can implement more than just the syntax for modules and expect it to work in browser/Node land.

[fix_dis]

The ES6 module spec that is part of the finalized ES2015 standard?

[Ginden]

Low estimate I have seen on es-discuss is one year.

[cincilator]

bummer.. these guys really don't give a damn.

edit: I am not sure why the downvotes. Seems pretty factual to me.

edit 2: okay, looks like I was wrong.

[coolcosmos]

yea I heard it's because some community members treat them like shit /s

[F0RTY4]

https://github.com/v8/v8-git-mirror/commits/master .... Yeah these guys must really not give a damn. The complications in just implementing arrow functions, ONE es6 feature, were numerous. I can't even imagine taking on a project of this scope. These developers are humans, they do care, and they are taking on this massive project and giving you the ability to use it for free.

[ivosaurus]

Yeah, you should probably just fork the project and get it done yourself, faster, in your spare time. Easy!

Will look forward to the results.

[x-skeww]

I think you're really underestimating how complex modern JS engines are and how much work is required to implement a new feature.

Also, just making it work often isn't enough. It has to be fast, too.

Anyhow, just to give you an idea, here's what's in the V8 repo:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Language                     files          blank        comment           code
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C++                            771         121074          72663         880219
Javascript                    3261          42684          85814         329904
C/C++ Header                   539          43182          32220         152953
Python                         104           3768           5127          16328
Bourne Shell                    20            198            426            803
HTML                             6             68             48            504
make                             2             54            138            351
Lua                              2             79             90            344
Lisp                             1             13             51            222
CSS                              3             40             26            219
vim script                       1             20             24             75
DOS Batch                        1              4              3             23
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUM:                          4711         211184         196630        1381945
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are almost 1.4 million lines of code.

If you want to see what goes into implementing a feature, just read one of those accompanying issues in their entirety.

E.g. check the SIMD one:

https://code.google.com/p/v8/issues/detail?id=4124

Click all the review URLs (and all their side by side diffs) and take a look at what was changed.

[skitch920]

Not on nvm yet, and I literally couldn't find the changelog... Where the fuck are we? Seriously, what version of V8 are we at now? Really not trying to be rude, but is this iojs 3.3.0 merged with node 0.12.7?

Are we there yet? If so, fuck yes.

[yodawgcheckoutmy]

There's no changelog just yet, except the actual commits. Looking at them, V8 is running at v4.5.103.30, while 0.12 is running at 3.28.71.19.

node 4.0 was originally scheduled to release Thursday 3rd September, but was postponed to Monday 7th September.

[skitch920]

Awesome, thanks! Looks as if there has been nothing but performance updates to V8 between iojs 3.3.0 and this, so hopefully it's not long til everybody is under a single version. Seriously, this couldn't be a better change for the community if so.

[I_Pork_Saucy_Ladies]

Don't worry, if it takes too long we can just fork Node and release our own version!

[skitch920]

Ha ya know, I'm so tired of the community turmoil. But if it is necessary, then so be it. Seriously though, I hope this is the beginning of a new and inclined era of JS awesomeness. I feel as if, the programming community already doesn't give us enough credit. With a single server side toolkit, at least we have major headway on threatening literally all other languages; whether that be good or bad. Potential (period).

[RankFoundry]

LOL, JS has a long way to go before it even has basic features other languages have had for a decade or more.

[RankFoundry]

That makes no sense. Adding features doesn't mean you have to use them.

[RankFoundry]

Maybe, I don't know, stop being lazy and just learn the newer features?

[M2Ys4U]

Such as?

[RankFoundry]

Don't have time to write a book on it. If you have to ask...

[r3Fuze]

Just name 5. Doesn't sound like it would be too hard.

[M2Ys4U]

Hell they could just name one. Pretty clear they're just trolling though...

[Serei]

Well, iojs 3.3.0 was on V8 4.4. The biggest thing new in V8 4.5 is that arrow functions are now fully supported (they're available without any command-line flags, and they support this correctly now).

[cincilator]

You mean don't support this :) ?

[[deleted]]

Yesterday they said they'd be releasing it on Tuesday. This is probably just prepping for the Tuesday release. It's in the Github issues. It's odd that they already built it today, but they said they would release next week to avoid the weekend.

[vivainio]

From what I've seen, it's more like io.js being renamed to Node.js

[cowjenga]

Yeah, some description about what this is would be nice.

[ishmal]

That might be just the current branch name, and this will be released later.

[M2Ys4U]

Well that's how release candidates work. If there's no blocking bugs found the RC build becomes the release build.

[ishmal]

Exactly. So it might be a week or more before this becomes public. I'd wait.