How JS becomes JS
Howdy, I'm obensource!
Node.js
OpenJS
ECMA 402
What is ECMA?
European Computer Manufacturers Association
“Ecma International is an industry association founded in 1961, dedicated to the standardization of information and communication systems.”
Essential JS History
When Brenden Eich was developing JavaScript at Netscape, he didn’t want any single company to have a monopoly on the language...
👉 So he moved it’s specification process to an organization to solidify it’s autonomy, and ensure that it could be owned by the development community.
What is tc39?
👉 The Ecma International, Technical Committee 39 - ECMAScript
Most importantly:
It's these amazing people.
What is ECMA 262?
What is ECMA 402?
Who’s interested in this stuff?
👉 Developers who care about the future of the language.
👉 Browser Vendors.
Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Node.js
👉 Companies who’s futures depend on the success of the language supporting what they want to do.
A bit on how that works
- A new spec lands.
- Browser vendors implement it, release under a feature flag
- It's (eventually) get's released in a production version!
How do you propose and land changes?
A small change?
Pull down the current spec, submit an issue, and PR in a small change! 🎉
A not-small change
Submit an official proposal.
What does a proposal look like?
Instead of showing you boring slides – let’s go to the source!
Example: bigint!
How can I get involved?
Check out the contributing guide!
Want to learn more and explore contributing?
Check out their new, rad, super helpful site!
Thanks!
👉 I'm @obensource, everywhere.
👉 Mail me: benmichel@invisionapp.com
How JS becomes JS
By Ben Michel
How JS becomes JS
Slides for an introductory talk about the ECMAScript standardization process – given at Portland's PDXNode meetup, may 10th 2019.
