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User:Shaver/ES4 FAQ: Difference between revisions
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== What is ES4? == | |||
ES4 (ECMAScript, 4th Edition) is the name given to the next revision of the ECMAScript language, the standardized basis of JavaScript and other similar languages. In this document, "ES4" refers to | |||
== If browsers implement ES4, will it break my existing scripts? == | == If browsers implement ES4, will it break my existing scripts? == | ||
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== Who is designing ES4? == | == Who is designing ES4? == | ||
The ECMA TG1 committee has as member companies Adobe, Apple, Opera, Mbedthis, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Yahoo!; of these, all but Apple have been active in the ES4 process over the past two years, with Apple joining the committee activities much more recently. The current draft specification is opposed by Microsoft and Yahoo!, and they have not contributed significantly to the specification. | The ECMA TG1 committee has as member companies Adobe, Apple, Opera, Mbedthis, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Yahoo!; of these, all but Apple have been active in the ES4 process over the past two years, with Apple joining the committee activities much more recently. Since April 2007, Microsoft and Yahoo! have registered their opposition to the current draft, and The current draft specification is opposed by Microsoft and Yahoo!, and they have not contributed significantly to the specification since that time. The dissenting members of TG1 have indicated that they believe the current draft proposal to As of this writing, there is no alternative proposal from Microsoft and Yahoo! for review by TG1, though they have indicated that they are working on one. | ||
In addition, there are several invited experts in the fields of type theory and programming language design who participate actively in the design of the language and have helped tremendously in the production of what the majority of committee members believe is a robust specification. | In addition, there are several invited experts in the fields of type theory and programming language design who participate actively in the design of the language and have helped tremendously in the production of what the majority of committee members believe is a robust specification. | ||
== Will ES4 require me to specify types, or stop changing the properties of my objects dynamically, as I do today with ES3? == | == Will ES4 require me to specify types, or stop changing the properties of my objects dynamically, as I do today with ES3? == | ||
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Adobe has been making significant headway towards building a full ECMAScript 4 implementation. Currently, ActionScript 3 implements a large portion of the ECMAScript 4 specification. However, for ActionScript 4 they are looking to move to a full ECMAScript 4 implementation. Adobe is working with Mozilla to build up the Tamarin virtual machine - which should be embedded in Adobe Flash 10. | Adobe has been making significant headway towards building a full ECMAScript 4 implementation. Currently, ActionScript 3 implements a large portion of the ECMAScript 4 specification. However, for ActionScript 4 they are looking to move to a full ECMAScript 4 implementation. Adobe is working with Mozilla to build up the Tamarin virtual machine - which should be embedded in Adobe Flash 10. | ||
Microsoft has not announced any specific plans about implementing ECMAScript 4 in Internet Explorer. | Microsoft has not announced any specific plans about implementing ECMAScript 4 in Internet Explorer, other than comments in TG1 meetings indicating that they would implement it after IE7. Their implementation of JScript.NET 8 already has some ECMAScript 4 features in it. It isn't clear, though, if they will be working to bring JScript.NET in line with the full specification. | ||
All of that being said, there's an important development taking place: ScreamingMonkey. ScreamingMonkey is a Mozilla project that is attempting to integrate the Tamarin engine into Internet Explorer, allowing users to develop JavaScript 2-compatible applications that'll work in all browsers. To complete the picture, it is expected that Adobe will help to distribute ScreamingMonkey with the Flash runtime - providing browser-based JavaScript 2 support to all users that have Flash installed. | All of that being said, there's an important development taking place: ScreamingMonkey. ScreamingMonkey is a Mozilla project that is attempting to integrate the Tamarin engine into Internet Explorer, allowing users to develop JavaScript 2-compatible applications that'll work in all browsers. To complete the picture, it is expected that Adobe will help to distribute ScreamingMonkey with the Flash runtime - providing browser-based JavaScript 2 support to all users that have Flash installed. | ||