JavaScript Features To Forget

The first demo of the language that was to become JavaScript took place almost exactly 25 years ago.

The language was released, as LiveScirpt, in a beta of Netscape Navigator in the fall of 1995, and renamed to JavaScript later that year. Sometime late that year I began work on the first edition (O’Reilly published it as the “beta edition”) of JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, and it was published in August of 1996, meaning that it is going on 24 years old now.

With the seventh edition coming out in just a few weeks, I want to take a trip down memory lane and blog about some old weird features of JavaScript and of the early web platform that we can now, mercifully, forget about.

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Changes in the Seventh Edition of JavaScript: The Definitive Guide

The seventh edition of my book, JavaScript: The Definitive Guide is scheduled for release less than a month from today. If you own the sixth edition, it is very much time for an upgrade. This post explains what has changed in this new edition.

  • Most importantly, this edition is up-to-date and covers the very newest ES2020 features like ?. and ??. The sixth edition covered ES5, which means that I have added documentation of all the language features of ES6, ES2016, ES2017, ES2018, ES2019 and ES2020 for this update.

  • The first thing you’ll notice when you see the new edition

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Back Cover Copy for JSTDG7

Here’s the marketing copy I wrote for the back cover of the book:


JavaScript is the programming language of the web and is used by more software developers today than any other programming language. For nearly 25 years this best seller has been the go-to guide for JavaScript programmers. The seventh edition is fully updated to cover the 2020 version of JavaScript, and new chapters cover classes, modules, iterators, generators, Promises, async/await, and metaprogramming. You’ll find illuminating and engaging example code throughout.

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JSTDG7 Cover Image

I’ve started a new blog to celebrate the fact that after 9 years there will finally be a new seventh edition of JavaScript: The Definitive Guide!

The cover of my book

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