The future of programming language JavaScript seems to be very near. This June, after no major updates during the last decade, Ecma will launch ECMAScript 6 after the sixth edition of ECMA-262’s final draft gets approved by Ecma General Assembly. ECMAScript 6 (ES6) final draft which is 650 pages long, features major language changes, new arrow functions, shorter module syntax and a lot more.

ECMAScript provides the “common foundation that JavaScript programmers in whatever environment or application can depend upon,” according to ECMAScript project editor Allen Wirfs-Brock,  and the 6th editon of ECMAScript, compared to previous JavaScript versions, is way more advanced and powerful. “…it’s what all programmers over the next couple years will expect to be there. So there’ll be a whole lot of pressure on the browsers, server-based systems and everyone who implements JavaScript to run fully performant ES6 as soon as possible,” Wirfs-Brock added.

 JavaScript’s new arrow functions will have a shorter syntax and will always be anonymous. Better JavaScript modules will also be included in ES6 while the language of JavaScript ecosystem will be more advanced and easy to work with.  “JavaScript’s prominence is a byproduct of the browser being ubiquitous, whether that’s desktop, mobile or other platforms like native desktop applications using the browser wrapped up and deployed or built with HTML5, and the emerging IoT devices and peripherals that treat Node.js as the engine that powers them,” according to Gartner analyst Danny Brian.

JavaScript is now everywhere and some of the biggest tech-companies from all over the world are investing a lot of money in its development tools.According to Wirfs-Brock, people do not completely realize the great importance of ECMAScript 6 launch.  ES6 is a huge milestone not only for JavaScript but for technology in general.

“Every once in a while, a piece of technology is situated in the right place at the right time, and it ends up taking over the world. Ten years ago I saw JavaScript poised to be in that position. What we had before was really what Brendan Eich came up with over 10 days in May of 1995. This is a new foundation for what may be the most important programming language of the next several decades, and ES6 is probably the foundation of JavaScript for the next 10 or 15 years,” Wirfs-Brock said.

JavaScript has already started working on ES7 which among other features includes multiple data and enhanced asynchronous programming support.

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