Introduction to ES6

prestonso

Known by its moniker ES6 or the less-appealing "ECMAScript 6," the next generation of JavaScript is quickly gaining steam as front-end developers future-proof their applications. ES6, also known as ES2015, introduces a variety of compelling new features that address familiar limitations of JavaScript. With compilers such as Babel, you too can begin using the JavaScript of the future in your code.

How does ES6 differ from previous iterations of JavaScript? What are some of the key concepts and thought processes that guided the spec to where it is now? What should we keep in mind as Drupal developers working with JavaScript? How will our Drupal sites and JavaScript in Drupal shift as a result of the promulgation of ES6?

Here's what we'll explore:

  • Why ES6? A brief history of JavaScript
  • ES6 browser support and compilers
  • ES6 constants
  • The let keyword and scoping
  • Arrow functions
  • The spread operator and its usage
  • String interpolation
  • Literals and regular expressions
  • ES6 objects
  • Computed properties and method properties
  • ES6 modules: export and import
  • ES6 classes and class inheritance
  • Iterators and generators
  • ES6 promises
  • Using ES6 in Drupal
  • Epilogue: The future of JavaScript in Drupal

This session is intended for front-end developers and themers interested in keeping their JavaScript knowledge up to date. An advanced level of understanding of JavaScript is presumed.

Session Track

Frontend

Experience Level

Advanced

Drupal Version