Node.js 16 is now available with an upgrade to the V8 JavaScript engine, prebuilt binaries for Apple Silicon, and additional stable APIs.
The V8 JavaScript engine has been updated from version 8.6 to 9.0. According to the team, this update includes ECMAScript RegExp Match Indices, which provide start and end indices for a captured string.
The team also created binaries for Apple Silicon, and this is the first Node.js release that will offer them. They were created with the help of the MacStadium project, the team explained.
Node.js 16 also includes the Timers Promises API, which provides alternative timer functions that return Promise objects. This eliminates the need to use util.promisify(), the team added.
Features being deprecated in this release include removing access to process.binding() for several core modules.
Node.js 16 will replace Node.js 15 as the “Current” release line. It will be promoted to a Long-Term Support release in October 2021.
“A new major release is a sum of the efforts of all of the project contributors and Node.js collaborators, so we’d like to use this opportunity to say a big thank you. In particular, we’d like to thank the Node.js Build Working Group for ensuring we have the infrastructure ready to create and test releases and making the necessary upgrades to our toolchains for Node.js 16,” the Node.js team wrote in a blog post.
