Understanding ECMAScript 6
This book is 100% complete
Completed on 2018-02-24
About the Book
ECMAScript 6 represents the biggest change to the core of JavaScript in the history of the language. Not only does the sixth edition add new object types, but also new syntax and exciting new capabilities. The result of years of study and debate, ECMAScript 6 reached feature complete status in 2014. While it will take a bit of time before all JavaScript environments support ECMAScript 6, it's still useful to understand what's coming and which features are available already.
This book is a guide for the transition between ECMAScript 5 and 6. It is not specific to any JavaScript environment, so it is equally useful to web developers as it is Node.js developers.
What you'll learn:
- All of the changes to the language since ECMAScript 5
- How the new class syntax relates to more familiar JavaScript concepts
- Why iterators and generators are useful
- How arrow functions are differ from regular functions
- Additional options for storing data using sets, maps, and more
- The power of inheriting from native types
- Why people are so excited about promises for asynchronous programming
- How modules will change the way you organize code
This book is being developed in the open on GitHub. You can visit the project repo to see the latest updates.
License
Table of Contents
-
Introduction
- The Road to ECMAScript 6
- About This Book
- Acknowledgments
-
Block Bindings
- Var Declarations and Hoisting
- Block-Level Declarations
- Block Binding in Loops
- Global Block Bindings
- Emerging Best Practices for Block Bindings
- Summary
-
Strings and Regular Expressions
- Better Unicode Support
- Other String Changes
- Other Regular Expression Changes
- Template Literals
- Summary
-
Functions
- Functions with Default Parameter Values
- Working with Unnamed Parameters
- Increased Capabilities of the Function Constructor
- The Spread Operator
- ECMAScript 6’s name Property
- Clarifying the Dual Purpose of Functions
- Block-Level Functions
- Arrow Functions
- Tail Call Optimization
- Summary
-
Expanded Object Functionality
- Object Categories
- Object Literal Syntax Extensions
- New Methods
- Duplicate Object Literal Properties
- Own Property Enumeration Order
- More Powerful Prototypes
- A Formal Method Definition
- Summary
-
Destructuring for Easier Data Access
- Why is Destructuring Useful?
- Object Destructuring
- Array Destructuring
- Mixed Destructuring
- Destructured Parameters
- Summary
-
Symbols and Symbol Properties
- Creating Symbols
- Using Symbols
- Sharing Symbols
- Symbol Coercion
- Retrieving Symbol Properties
- Exposing Internal Operations with Well-Known Symbols
- Summary
-
Sets and Maps
- Sets and Maps in ECMAScript 5
- Problems with Workarounds
- Sets in ECMAScript 6
- Maps in ECMAScript 6
- Summary
-
Iterators and Generators
- The Loop Problem
- What are Iterators?
- What Are Generators?
- Iterables and for-of
- Built-in Iterators
- The Spread Operator and Non-Array Iterables
- Advanced Iterator Functionality
- Asynchronous Task Running
- Summary
-
Introducing JavaScript Classes
- Class-Like Structures in ECMAScript 5
- Class Declarations
- Class Expressions
- Classes as First-Class Citizens
- Accessor Properties
- Computed Member Names
- Generator Methods
- Static Members
- Inheritance with Derived Classes
- Using new.target in Class Constructors
- Summary
-
Improved Array Capabilities
- Creating Arrays
- New Methods on All Arrays
- Typed Arrays
- Similarities Between Typed and Regular Arrays
- Differences Between Typed and Regular Arrays
- Summary
-
Promises and Asynchronous Programming
- Asynchronous Programming Background
- Promise Basics
- Global Promise Rejection Handling
- Chaining Promises
- Responding to Multiple Promises
- Inheriting from Promises
- Summary
-
Proxies and the Reflection API
- The Array Problem
- What are Proxies and Reflection?
- Creating a Simple Proxy
-
Validating Properties Using the
setTrap -
Object Shape Validation Using the
getTrap -
Hiding Property Existence Using the
hasTrap -
Preventing Property Deletion with the
deletePropertyTrap - Prototype Proxy Traps
- Object Extensibility Traps
- Property Descriptor Traps
-
The
ownKeysTrap -
Function Proxies with the
applyandconstructTraps - Revocable Proxies
- Solving the Array Problem
- Using a Proxy as a Prototype
- Summary
-
Encapsulating Code With Modules
- What are Modules?
- Basic Exporting
- Basic Importing
- Renaming Exports and Imports
- Default Values in Modules
- Re-exporting a Binding
- Importing Without Bindings
- Loading Modules
- Summary
-
Appendix A: Smaller Changes
- Working with Integers
- New Math Methods
- Unicode Identifiers
-
Formalizing the
__proto__Property
-
Appendix B: Understanding ECMAScript 7 (2016)
- The Exponentiation Operator
- The Array.prototype.includes() Method
- Change to Function-Scoped Strict Mode
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About the Author
Nicholas C. Zakas is a web applications software engineer with over 16 years of experiencing. He has worked on everything from small websites to massive-scale web applications. He has worked at Box as a principal architect and Yahoo as a presentation architect. He is the author of Maintainable JavaScript (O’Reilly, 2012), Professional JavaScript for Web Developers (Wrox, 2012), High Performance JavaScript(O’Reilly, 2010), and Professional Ajax (Wrox, 2007). Nicholas is a strong advocate for development best practices including progressive enhancement, accessibility, performance, scalability, and maintainability. He blogs regularly at https://www.nczonline.net/ and can be found on Twitter via @slicknet.
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