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Latest revision as of 18:57, 25 October 2025
THIS IS A DRAFT
This text may not be complete.
- title
 - JavaScript
 - author
 - Lukasz Sokolowski (NobleProg)
 
JavaScript
JavaScript Training Materials
Copyright Notice
Copyright © 2004-2025 by NobleProg Limited All rights reserved.
This publication is protected by copyright, and permission must be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise.
JavaScript Intro
- Names, versions, etc
 - Finished proposals
 
What is this buzz all about?
- All the JavaScript acronyms can be confusing
 - Was originally named JavaScript in hopes of capitalizing on the success of Java
 - JavaScript was submitted to ECMA International for Standardization (organization that standardizes information)
 - ECMAScript is a standard
- JavaScript is the most popular implementation of that standard
 - JavaScript implements ECMAScript and builds on top of it
 - Other implementations: SpiderMonkey, V8, ActionScript, and more
 
 
Other names
- ES is simply short for ECMAScript
 - ES followed by a number is referencing an edition of ECMAScript
 - There are 8 editions of ECMAScript published
 - ES1: June 1997, ES2: June 1998, ES3: Dec 1999, ES4: Abandoned, due to political differences
 - ES5: Dec 2009 - presently fully supported by all most popular web browsers
 - ES6 / ES2015: June 2015 - the decision was make to move to annual updates
- From now on official name reflects the year of release (no longer ES7, ES8, etc)
 
 - ES2016: June 2016, ES2017: June 2017
 
Finished proposals
- All of them
 - ECMAScript 2016
 - ECMAScript 2017
 - ECMAScript 2018
 - ECMAScript 2019
 - ECMAScript 2020
 - ECMAScript 2021
 - ECMAScript 2022
 - ECMAScript 2023, current
 
ECMAScript 2015
- For of
- https://www.w3schools.com/js/js_es6.asp#mark_forof
 - d3js example, index.js, ch4
 
 - Set
 - Map
 - Spread
 
ECMAScript 2016
- Array.prototype.includes
 - Exponentiation infix operator
 
Array.prototype.includes
- includes instance method on the Array
 - Helps to easily find if an item is in the Array (including NaN unlike indexOf)
 
const setty = ['me', 'doing', 'js', NaN];
// Before, and doesn't search NaN
if ( setty.indexOf("js") >= 0 ) { console.log(true); }
setty.indexOf(NaN); // false
// Now, and searches NaN
if ( setty.includes("js") ) { console.log(true); }
setty.includes(NaN);  // true
Exponentiation infix operator
- In exponent operation the ** was introduced instead of Math.pow
 
// Earlier
Math.pow(7, 2)
// Now
7**2
ECMAScript 2017
- Object.values()
 - Object.entries()
 - String padding
 - Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptors
 - Trailing commas, function parameters
 - Async/Await
 
Object.values()
- New function similar to Object.keys()
 - Returns all the values of the Object’s own properties
- but excluding any value(s) in the prototypical chain
 
 
const bookPrices = { Thud: 20, LOTR: 50, Drupal8: 30 };
// Before
const prices = Object.keys(bookPrices).map( priceKey => bookPrices[priceKey]); 
console.log(prices); // [20, 50, 30]
// Now
const prices1 = Object.values(bookPrices);
console.log(prices1); // [20, 50, 30]
Object.entries()
- Also similar to Object.keys()
- Returns as array both, keys and values
 - Simplifies using objects in loops or converting objects into Maps
 
 
const bookPrices = { Thud: 20, LOTR: 50, Drupal8: 30 };
const map = new Map();
// Extracting keys and looping; map
Object.keys(bookPrices).forEach( function(priceKey) {
    console.log('Book: ' + priceKey + ' costs: ' + bookPrices[priceKey]);
    map.set(priceKey, bookPrices[priceKey]);
});
console.log(map); // Map(3) {"Thud" => 20, "LOTR" => 50, "Drupal8" => 30}
// Easier (-:
for ( let [k, v] of Object.entries(bookPrices) ) {
    console.log(`Book: ${k} costs: ${v}`);
};
const map1 = new Map(Object.entries(bookPrices));
console.log(map1);
String padding
- Two new instance methods
- String.prototype.padStart and String.prototype.padEnd
 - allow appending/prepending string (also empty one) to the start or the end of the original string
 
 
// printing multiple items of varying lengths and right-aligning them properly
const bookPrices = { 'Thud': '200', 'LOTR': '50', 'Drupal8': '5' };
Object.entries(bookPrices).map(([row, count]) => {
  // padEnd appends ' ~' until the row becomes 25 characters
  // padStart prepends '0' until the count becomes 4 characters
  console.log(`${row.padEnd(25, ' ~')} Costs: ${count.padStart(4, '0')}`)
});
//Prints..
// Thud ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  Costs: 0200
// LOTR ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  Costs: 0050
// Drupal8 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Costs: 0005
Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptors
- Returns all the details for all the properties of a given object
- including methods get and set
 
 - Allows shallow copying / cloning an object into another object
- that also copies getter and setter functions (as opposed to Object.assign)
 
 
var Comic = {
 title: 'Thorgal', price: 100,
 set discount(amount) {
  this.d = amount;
 },
 get discount() {
  return this.d;
 },
};
// Print details of Comic object's 'discount' property
console.log(Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(Comic, 'discount'));
// Prints.. { get: [Function: get], set: [Function: set], enumerable: true, configurable: true }
// Copy Comic's properties to KindleComic using Object.assign
const KindleComic = Object.assign({}, Comic);
// Print details of KindleComic object's 'discount' property
console.log(Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(KindleComic, 'discount'));
// prints.. { value: undefined, writable: true, enumerable: true, configurable: true }
// getters and setters are missing..  )-:
// Copy Comic's properties to KindleComic2 using Object.defineProperties 
// and extract Comic's properties using Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptors
const KindleComic2 = Object.defineProperties({}, Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptors(Comic));
//Print details of KindleComic2 object's 'discount' property
console.log(Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(KindleComic2, 'discount'));
//prints.. { get: [Function: get], set: [Function: set], enumerable: true, configurable: true }
// getters and setters are present in the ElectricCar2 object for 'discount' property  (--8
Trailing commas, function parameters
- Allows us to have trailing commas after the last function parameter
 - Helps with tools like git blame to ensure only new developers get blamed
 
function Comic (
  title,
  year // Devel1 does this without ','
  ){
  this.title = title;
  this.year = year;
}
function Comic (
  title,
  year,  // Devel2 has to add ','
  genre  // Devel2 can add new parameter now
  ){
  this.title = title;
  this.year = year;
  this.genre = genre;  // Devel2 adds
}
// Solution
function Comic (
  title,
  year, // Devel2 doesn't need to change here (-:
  ){
  this.title = title;
  this.year = year;
}
Async/Await
- Async functions
- no callback hell
 - make the entire code look simple
 
 - When seeing async keyword, JavaScript compiler treats the function differently
- pauses whenever it reaches the await keyword within that function
 - assumes that the expression after await returns a promise
 - and waits until the promise is resolved or rejected before moving further
 
 
Basic example
// Usual promise way
function getInvoice(clientId) {
  getClient(clientId)
    .then(getFromTool)
    .then(invoice => {
      console.log(invoice);
    });
}
// New way
async function getInvoice2(clientId) {
  var client = await getClient(clientId);
  var invoice = await getFromTool(client);
  console.log(invoice);
}
getInvoice("Sam Sung");
getInvoice2("Sam Sung");
function getClient(clientId) {
  return new Promise( resolve => {
    setTimeout( () => {
      resolve("Sam Sung");
    }, 1000);
  });
}
function getFromTool(clientId) {
  return new Promise( (resolve, reject) => {
    setTimeout( () => {
      if ( clientId == "Sam Sung" ) {
        resolve("Inv2-03052017");
      } else {
        reject("Unknown client");
      }
    }, 1000);
  });
}
Exercise
Fix the example above (-:
Async functions themselves return a Promise
- If we are waiting for the result from an async function
- we need to use Promise’s then syntax to capture its result
 
 
async function glueScrabble(w1, w2) {
 w1 = await fixLetters(w1);
 w2 = await fixLetters(w2);
 return w1 + w2;
}
glueScrabble('a', 'b').then(console.log);
function fixLetters(letter) {
  return new Promise ( resolve => {
   setTimeout( () => { resolve( letter.toUpperCase() ) }, 5000); 
  });
}
Calling async/await in parallel
- Instead of calling await twice and each time waiting for five seconds (total 10 seconds)
- we can parallelize it since a and b are not dependent on each other using Promise.all
 
 
async function glueScrabble2(w1, w2) {
  // with Array destructuring 
  [w1, w2] = await Promise.all( [fixLetters(w1), fixLetters(w2)] );
 return w1 + w2;
}
glueScrabble2('a', 'b').then(console.log);
Error handling async/await functions
- Use try catch within the function
 - Catch every await expression
 - Catch the entire async-await function
 
Use try catch within the function
// Use try catch within the function
async function glueScrabble3(w1, w2) {
  try {
    w1 = await fixLetters3(w1);
    w2 = await fixLetters3(w2);
  } catch (e) {
    return e.name;
  }
  return w1 + w2;
}
// Usage:
glueScrabble3(23, 'b').then(console.log);  // "TypeError"
glueScrabble3('a', 'b').then(console.log); // AB
function fixLetters3(letter) {
 return new Promise( (resolve, reject) => {
  setTimeout( function() {
    if ( typeof letter == "number" ) throw "Number given, should be a string"; 
    let val = letter.toUpperCase(); console.log(val);
    (!val) ? reject('TypeError') : resolve(val);
  }, 1000);
 });
}
Catch every await expression
// Catch errors on every await line
// each await expression is a Promise in itself
async function glueScrabble4(w1, w2) {
  w1 = await fixLetters4(w1).catch(e => console.log('"w1" is a Number')); // Yep (-:
  w2 = await fixLetters4(w2).catch(e => console.log('"w2" is a Number')); // Yep (-:
  if ( !w1 || !w2 ) {
    return 'Both are numbers';
  }
  return w1 + w2;
}
//Usage:
glueScrabble4(234, 'a').then(console.log); // 'TypeError' and logs:  "w1" is a Number
glueScrabble4('a', 'b').then(console.log); // AB
function fixLetters4(letter) {
 return new Promise( (resolve, reject) => {
  setTimeout( function() {
    let val = letter.toUpperCase(); // console.log(val);
    (!val) ? reject('TypeError') : resolve(val);
  }, 1000);
 });
}
Catch the entire async-await function
//Option 3 - Don't do anything but handle outside the function
//since async / await returns a promise, we can catch the whole function's error
async function doubleAndAdd(a, b) {
 a = await doubleAfter1Sec(a);
 b = await doubleAfter1Sec(b);
 return a + b;
}
//Usage:
doubleAndAdd('one', 2)
.then(console.log)
.catch(console.log); // <------- use "catch"
function doubleAfter1Sec(param) {
 return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
  setTimeout(function() {
   let val = param * 2;
   isNaN(val) ? reject(NaN) : resolve(val);
  }, 1000);
 });
}
Example from Ecma docs
d3js examples
- ch5, index.js
 - ch2, index.js
 
ECMAScript 2018
- Rest / spread properties
 - Asynchronous iteration
 - Promise.finally()
 - Additions to RegExp
 
rest / spread properties
- allows to destruct an object and collect the leftovers onto a new object
 
Examples
let { x, y, ...z } = { x: 1, y: 2, a: 3, b: 4 };
x; // 1
y; // 2
z; // { a: 3, b: 4 }
// or longer:
let object = {a: 1, b: 2}
let objectClone = Object.assign({}, object) // before ES2018
let objectClone = {...object} // ES2018 syntax
let otherObject = {c: 3, ...object}
console.log(otherObject) // -> {c: 3, a: 1, b: 2}
Promise.prototype.finally()
- Allow running a callback after either resolve or reject to help clean things up
 - The finally callback is called without any value and is always executed no matter what
 
// Resolve case...
let started = true;
let myPromise = new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
	resolve('all good');
})
  .then(val => {
    console.log(val); // logs 'all good'
  })
  .catch(e => {
    console.log(e); // skipped
  })
  .finally(() => {
    console.log('This function is always executed!');
    started = false; // clean up
  });
Promise.prototype.finally() Con't
- Error handling example
 
// Error cas 1...
// Error thrown from Promise
let started = true;
let myPromise = new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
	throw new Error('Error');
})
  .then(val => {
    console.log(val); // skipped
  })
  .catch(e => {
    console.log(e); // catch is called since there was an error
  })
  .finally(() => {
    // Notice that no value is passed here!
    console.log('This function is always executed!');
    started = false; // clean up
  });
Asynchronous Iteration
- Asynchronous iterators and iterables
- we can use the await keyword in for/of loops
 
 - Syntax 
for await () {} 
Examples
const promises = [
  new Promise(resolve => resolve(1)),
  new Promise(resolve => resolve(2)),
  new Promise(resolve => resolve(3)),
];
// BEFORE:
// for-of uses regular sync iterator
// Doesn't wait for promise to resolve
async function test1(){
  for (const obj of promises){
    console.log(obj); // Logs 3 promise objects
  }
}
// AFTER:
// for-await-of uses Async iterator
// Waits for Promise to resolve for each loop
async function test2(){
  for await (const obj of promises){
    console.log(obj); // Logs 1, 2, 3
  }
}
test1(); // promise, promise, promise
test2(); // 1, 2, 3 ...prints values
Additions to RegExp
- Unicode Property Escapes (\p{...})
 - Lookbehind Assertions (?<= ) and (?<! )
 - Named Capture Groups
 - s (dotAll) Flag
 
Execution improvements
- Threads - using the Web Workers API to create threads
- Worker threads
- are used to execute code in the background - main program can continue execution
 - run simultaneously with the main program - it can be time-saving
 
 
 - Worker threads
 - Shared Memory - allows threads (different parts of a program)
- to access and update the same data in the same memory
 - no passing data between threads
 - instead we can pass a SharedArrayBuffer object that points to the memory where data is saved
 
 - SharedArrayBuffer
- object which represents a fixed-length raw binary data buffer
 - similar to the ArrayBuffer object
 
 
ES2019
- String.trimStart() and String.trimEnd()
 - Object.fromEntries
 - Array.flat() and Array.flatMap()
 - Revised Array.Sort()
 - Revised JSON.stringify()
 - Separator symbols allowed in string literals
 - Revised .toString()
 - Optional catch binding
 
- Previously JSON.stringify() on UTF-8 code points (U+D800 to U+DFFF)
- returned broken Unicode characters like ���
 
 - .toString() must return the source code of the function
- including comments, spaces, and syntax details
 
 
Examples
// new methods: trimStart() and trimEnd()
let text1 = "     Hi Universe!     ";
let text2 = text1.trimStart();
let text3 = text1.trimEnd();
// utf8 encodings returns properly now
<div id="stringy"></div>
let text = JSON.stringify("\u26D4");
document.getElementById("stringy").innerHTML = JSON.parse(text);
// also line and paragraph separator symbols (\u2028 and \u2029)
let text = "\u2028";
// .toString() precision
const meF = (data) => `<div>${data}</div>`;
console.log( meF.toString() );
- Array.prototype.flat(), Array.prototype.flatMap(), Object.fromEntries()
 
Examples
// Example of Array.prototype.flat() and Array.prototype.flatMap() in ES10
let array = [1, 2, [3, 4]];
console.log(array.flat()); // Output: [1, 2, 3, 4]
let numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4];
console.log(numbers.flatMap(x => [x, x*2])); // Output: [1, 2, 2, 4, 3, 6, 4, 8]
// Example of Object.fromEntries() in ES10
let entries = [['name', 'John Doe'], ['age', 30]];
console.log(Object.fromEntries(entries)); // Output: { name: "John Doe", age: 30 }
- More stable Array sort() method
- previously unstable sorting algorithms (ie. QuickSort) were allowed
 - now only stable can be used
 - When sorting, elements must keep their relative position to other elements with the same value
 
 
Example
const myArr = [
  {name:"X00",price:100 },
  {name:"X08",price:120 },
  {name:"X05",price:110 },
  {name:"X04",price:110 },
  {name:"X09",price:120 },
  {name:"X01",price:100 },
];
myArr.sort( (p1, p2) => {
  if (p1.price < p2.price) return -1;
  if (p1.price > p2.price) return 1;
  return 0;
});
let txt = "";
const showF = (value) => txt += `${value.name} ${value.price}<br>` ; 
myArr.forEach(showF);
console.log(txt);
/*
when sorting on price, such result is not allowed to come:
X01 100
X00 100
X09 120
X08 120
*/
Optional catch
- Can be omitted if not needed
 
Example
// Before 2019:
try {
// code
} catch (err) {
// code
}
// After 2019:
try {
// code
} catch {
// code
}
ES2020
- BigInt
 - String matchAll()
 - The Nullish Coalescing Operator (??) and Assignment (??=)
 - The Optional Chaining Operator (?.)
 - Logical AND/OR Assignment Operators (&&=), (||=)
 - Promise allSettled():
Promise.allSettled([prom1,prom2,prom3]).then {}- Docs https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Promise/allSettled
 
 - Dynamic Import
 
BigInt
- BigInt variables - store big integer values
- the usual Number has only 15 digits max
 
 - BigInt() or 1234567890123456789n
 
Example
 let x = 123456789012345678901234567890n;
 let y = BigInt("123456789012345678901234567890");
 console.log( typeof(x) );         // 'bigint'
matchAll()
- To search for all occurrences of a string in a string
 
Examples
 let text = "I love bugs. Bugs are very easy to love. Bugs are very popular."
 const iterator = text.matchAll("Bugs");
 const iterator1 = text.matchAll(/Bugs/g);      // regexps, globally
 const iterator2 = text.matchAll(/Bugs/gi);     // case insensitive
 console.log( Array.from(iterator) );
 console.log( Array.from(iterator1) );
 console.log( Array.from(iterator2) );
Other
// Example of globalThis in ES11
console.log(globalThis); // Output: Window {...}
// Example of private fields
class Invoice {
    #name = "Don Joe";
    #id = 370;
    getName() {
        return this.#name;
    }
    getId() {
        return this.#age;
    }
}
let person = new Person();
console.log(person.getName()); // Output: "Don Joe"
console.log(person.getId()); // Output: 370
// Example of nullish coalescing in ES11
let value = null;
console.log(value ?? "default"); // Output: "default"
// The ?. operator returns undefined if an object is undefined or null (instead of throwing an error)
const car = {type:"Fiat", model:"500", color:"white"};
let name = car?.name;
console.log(name); // Output: "undefined"
// Logical AND, OR
let x = 100; x &&= 5;          // If the first value is true, the second value is assigned
console.log(x);
let y = undefined; y ||= 5;    // If the first value is false, the second value is assigned
console.log(y);
// Nullish Coalescing Assignment Operator
let z;
console.log( x ??= 5 );        // If the first value is undefined or null, the second value is assigned
</script>
Dynamic imports
- import() - returns a Promise; it's not a function
 - Lazy loading modules, on-demand, etc
 - Related docs
 
Example
- Lazy Loading in Reactjs
 
ES2021
- Promise any():
- const first = await Promise.any([prom1,prom2,prom3]);
 
 - String replaceAll()
 - Numeric Separators (_)
 
Some Examples
// Example of Logical Assignment Operators in ES12
let a = 0, b = 1;
a &&= b;
console.log(a); // Output: 0
a ||= b;
console.log(a); // Output: 1
a &&= b;
console.log(a); // Output: 1
// Example of Numeric Separators in ES12
let billion = 1_000_000_000; // This is equivalent to let billion = 1000000000;
console.log(billion); // Output: 1000000000
// Example of Promise.any() in ES12
let promises = [
    Promise.reject('1'),
    Promise.resolve('2'),
    Promise.reject('3')
];
Promise.any(promises)
    .then(value => console.log(value)) // Output: "2"
    .catch(error => console.log(error));
// Example of String.prototype.replaceAll() in ES12
let string = "foo foo foo";
console.log(string.replaceAll("foo", "bar")); // Output: "bar bar bar"
ES2022
- Array at()
 - String at()
 - RegExp /d
 - Object.hasOwn()
 - error.cause
 - await import
 - Private methods and fields
 - Class field declarations
 
Examples
ES2023
- Latest docs
 
State of JS
https://stateofjs.com/
Patterns
https://javascriptpatterns.vercel.app/patterns/performance-patterns/dynamic-import