Paul Krill
Editor at Large

Io.js 2.0: Node.js fork moves forward

news
May 7, 20152 mins

Io.js 2.0 makes accommodations for ECMAScript 6 and Google's V8 JavaScript engine

Version 2.0 of io.js, a fork of the Node.js server-side JavaScript platform, is now available, with conformance to the ECMAScript 6 specification a key improvement. Io.js 2.0 also supports a new version of Google’s V8 JavaScript engine.

Notable ES6 features include having classes moved out of staging, with the class keyword now usable in strict mod without flags, io.js representative Mikeal Rogers said in an email: “[Version] 2.0 has a new version of V8 [version 4.2.77.18]. This means that we’ve taken on additional ES6 language features and we have a small ABI change — hence the need for a major version bump. In the future we expect to see more major version upgrades like this as we continue to keep up with V8.” The engine has served as an underpinning of Node.js.

Also with io.js 2.0, object literal enhancements have been moved out of staging, with shorthand method and property syntax now usable, he said. Computed property names, meanwhile, are implemented in staging behind the ---harmony-rest-paramaters flag. Unicode escapes are implanted in staging behind the harmony-unicode flag.

Io.js, which forked off Node.js late last year, is billed as an Npm-compatible platform originally based on Node.js. While there has been talk of a reconciliation between the io.js and Node.js camps, which have much overlap in participants, there also has been discussion of io.js serving as a testing ground for Node.js features.

Paul Krill

Paul Krill is editor at large at InfoWorld. Paul has been covering computer technology as a news and feature reporter for more than 35 years, including 30 years at InfoWorld. He has specialized in coverage of software development tools and technologies since the 1990s, and he continues to lead InfoWorld’s news coverage of software development platforms including Java and .NET and programming languages including JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, and Go. Long trusted as a reporter who prioritizes accuracy, integrity, and the best interests of readers, Paul is sought out by technology companies and industry organizations who want to reach InfoWorld’s audience of software developers and other information technology professionals. Paul has won a “Best Technology News Coverage” award from IDG.

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