The ECMAScript 6 schedule changes

Allen Wirfs-Brock, editor of the ECMAScript 6 specification, recently mentioned on Twitter that the schedule for ECMAScript 6 has changed slightly.

The changes  #

This is the content of Wirfs-Brock’s tweets:

• TC39 has decided to move the formal publication date of the ECMAScript 6 standard to June 2015.
• Work for ECMAScript 7 continues on schedule.
• The extra time is for more implementation feedback and more ECMAScript 6 specification review, bug fixes, and test development.
• The ECMAScript 6 feature set will remain frozen during this extended validation period.

What does this mean?  #

ECMAScript 6 is basically done: its feature set ^[1] is frozen, it is mostly being refined now. You can already program in it and compile it to current JavaScript ^[2]. The JavaScript frameworks AngularJS and Ember.js will even be based on it (with ways to opt out). Again, via cross-compilation.

Furthermore, ECMAScript 6 features are appearing in modern browsers at a steady pace ^[3].

The previous schedule looked as follows:

• November 2013: final review of draft
• July 2014: editorially complete
• December 2014: Ecma approval (formal publication date)

According to Wirfs-Brock, ECMAScript 6 will be finished (with the exception of fixing last bugs) by the end of 2014. The publication process starts in March 2015 (and is finished in June 2015).

In other words: ECMAScript 6 implementation and adoption is progressing nicely, but standardization takes more time. The specification is a huge document and getting all the details right is an enormous task.

References  #