Jake Pruitt

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JavaScript is the very heart of the web. Keeping an eye on the pulse of JavaScript is vital to anyone who wants to be a part of future technologies like real-time communication or the Internet of Things. I personally can’t wait to see what the web has in store.

If you are curious about some of the exciting new changes in JavaScript, here’s a brief overview to inspire you and give you a leg up in the next conference call when a client asks about the future of the web.

A Super-powered Language

ECMAScript 6, or ES6, is the next standard for the JavaScript language and has a lot of features that make a JavaScript developer’s mouth water. Some of the key features include:

These features are pretty wicked awesome, and a lot of people in the community are rallying around the new features and working together to make them as useful as possible. If you want thorough rundowns of the coolest features, check out Domenic Denicola’s slide deck on the awesome parts of ES6, and Dr. Axel Rauschmayer’s article Using ECMAScript 6 Today.

Many of the big browsers have created libraries to use these new features today. Microsoft has created TypeScript, a typed superset of JavaScript that offers classes, modules, and interfaces. Google is moving forward with AtScript, an enhancement to JavaScript that makes application development much more powerful. AtScript will be used in future versions of AngularJS.

Google also created Traceur, a compiler that focuses on implementing pure ES6. Node Harmony is an implementation of Node.js that allows the use of ES6 features like yeild. This means you can start using these new tools today, and test out what the future of the language has in store!

Real-time Browser Communication

WebRTC is an open framework for creating applications that communicate in real time in the browser, from one client to the other, without a server in the middle. Check out this demo if you want a cool idea of what WebRTC does. Without any needed software downloads, WebRTC allows encrypted video to be transmitted over the network with a JavaScript API that is built into the browser.

The best way to start learning and using WebRTC is to check out Lisa Larson-Kelley’s course, or read the HTML5 Rocks tutorial.

Internet of Things

JavaScript has taken on a large role in the Internet of Things movement, a movement that offers embedded microprocessors in all sorts of real world things. Check out this article, which talks about things like Johnny Five and NodeBots. The Internet of Things episode of NodeUp is also really interesting.

I personally am really excited about the direction JavaScript as a whole is taking. If you want to become part of the future of Node.js, check out NodeForward, a community effort to determine the the direction of the ecosystem as a whole. Feel free to contribute in any way you can, and let me know what things you’re excited about in the future of JavaScript!