The JavaScript runtime Node.js hit version 6 today with performance advancements as well as reliability and security enhancements. This version, unlike version 5.0, is intended to be a long-term support release in order to provide front-end, back-end, Web and IoT developers with a consistent and high-quality solution.
“This release is committed to Long Term Support [LTS], which allows predictable long-term stability, reliability, performance and security to the growing number of enterprise users that are adopting Node.js as a key technology in their infrastructure,” said Mikeal Rogers, community manager for the Node.js Foundation.
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According to the Node.js Foundation, the highlight of this release is in the module loading performance improvements. Module loading is expected to be 4x faster than the current LTS release (version 4) and will help developers accelerate their application development release cycles. Other performance updates include V8 JavaScript engine 5.0 with improved ECMAScript 2015 support. The previous release accounted for 56% of ES6 features, and this release is meant to include 93% of its features, such as default and rest parameters, destructuring, class, and super keywords.
In addition, Node.js 6 features a new buffer API designed to reduce bugs and vulnerabilities, a new constructor method, a zero-fill-buffers command-line flag, improved Math.random() implementation, increased documentation, and increased testing.
“The Node.js Project has done an incredible job of bringing this version to life in the timeline that we initially proposed in September 2015,” said Rodgers. “It’s important for us to continue to deliver new versions of Node.js equipped with all the cutting-edge JavaScript features to serve the needs of developers and to continue to improve the performance and stability enterprises rely on.”
Version 5 will continue to be maintained for a few more months, with long-term support for version 6 starting in October. The current LTS release will move to maintenance mode in April 2017, and is only expected to get critical bug, security and documentation updates.
The Node.js Foundation recommends developers move to version 6 in October when reaches the LTS release line. Developers will be able to download Node.js 6 later this afternoon.
