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JavaScript Web Development Year in Review

JavaScript in 2017: The Year of Stabilization

If 2016 was the year of JavaScript fatigue, 2017 was the year of JavaScript stability. No major framework wars. No revolutionary new tools that forced everyone to rewrite everything. Just steady iteration, performance improvements, and maturation of existing technologies.

This is less exciting than previous years, but more productive. The JavaScript ecosystem is growing up.

The Framework Landscape Settled

The big three frameworks solidified their positions:

React – Still dominant, especially in the U.S. React 16 shipped with Fiber, proving Facebook can execute large rewrites without breaking the ecosystem.

Categories
Async Programming JavaScript Language Features

async/await: The Async Revolution Coming to JavaScript

async/await reached Stage 4 this month, meaning it's officially part of the next ECMAScript version (ES2017). After years of callbacks and promise chains, JavaScript finally gets syntax for asynchronous code that reads like synchronous code.

This isn't hyperbole—async/await is the most significant JavaScript language feature since Promises.

The Problem async/await Solves