December 17, 2024

Subject: State of JS 2024; compiling JS via Porffor; source map format specification; December TC39 meeting; e18e contributions in November; Node.js performance ; Node v23.4.0

Dear readers!

We are taking our end-of-the-year break and will be back on 21 January 2025.

Be well and see you soon!

Axel and Jowe

State of JavaScript 2024: the results are in

2024.stateofjs.com @sachagreif@front-end.social

Porffor: compile JavaScript to Wasm or native

porffor.dev @honk@donotsta.re

  • It truly compiles: Binaries don’t include a runtime and are therefore small.
  • It will eventually support all of the language: The homepage shows how much of the Test262 ECMAScript test suite Porffor currently passes: 56.45%.
  • If you are looking for more information, you can listen to a podcast about Porffor on YouTube.

How is Porffor different from AssemblyScript? AssemblyScript compiles a subset of TypeScript to Wasm and is more low-level than Porffor (with pros and cons).

Ecma International approves first edition of source map format specification

ecma-international.org @asumu@mastodon.social

Quoting the specification:

The source map format has the following goals:
  • Support source-level debugging allowing bidirectional mapping
  • Support server-side stack trace deobfuscation

The latest drafts are available at tc39.es.

Updates from the TC39 meeting in December 2024

dev.to @gnumanth@mastodon.social

ECMAScript proposals:
  • import.sync(): new at stage 1
  • New “integrity level” (beyond frozen, sealed and non-extensible): new at stage 1
  • Immutable ArrayBuffers: from stage 1 to 2
  • Error.isError(): from stage 2.7 to 3
Internationalization API proposals:
  • More currency display choices: new at stage 2
  • Intl.DurationFormat: from stage 3 to 4

e18e contributions in November (performance gains across the JS ecosystem)

e18e.dev @e18e@webtoo.ls

Node.js

State of Node.js performance 2024

nodesource.com github.com/RafaelGSS github.com/lizzparody github.com/nodesource

“The year is 2024, and Node.js has reached version 23. With two semver-majors released per year, it might be difficult to keep track of all aspects of Node.js. This article revisits the State of Node.js performance, with a focus on comparing versions 20 through 22. The goal is to provide a detailed analysis of how the platform has evolved over the past year.”

Node v23.4.0 (current): node:sqlite without a flag and more

nodejs.org github.com/aduh95 @nodejs@social.lfx.dev

Highlights:
  • assert.partialDeepStrictEqual()
  • --trace-env and --trace-env-[js|native]-stack
  • Module node:sqlite can now be used without a command line flag
‍

This email was sent to {{ email | default }}. You can unsubscribe from this list here or update your preferences.

‍