JavaScript Versions

❮ Previous Next ❯

Brendan Eich created JavaScript in 1995, and it was officially standardized by ECMA in 1997.

ECMAScript is the approved name for the language.

The different versions of ECMAScript are named ES1, ES2, ES3, ES5, and ES6.

Starting in 2016, the versions have been labeled according to the respective years, such as ECMAScript 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

ECMAScript Editions

Ver	Official Name	Description
ES1	ECMAScript 1 (1997)	First edition
ES2	ECMAScript 2 (1998)	Editorial changes
ES3	ECMAScript 3 (1999)	Added regular expressions Added try/catch Added switch Added do-while
ES4	ECMAScript 4	Never released
ES5	ECMAScript 5 (2009) Read More	Added "strict mode" Added JSON support Added String.trim() Added Array.isArray() Added Array iteration methods Allows trailing commas for object literals
ES6	ECMAScript 2015 Read More	Added let and const Added default parameter values Added Array.find() Added Array.findIndex()
	ECMAScript 2016 Read More	Added exponential operator (**) Added Array.includes()
	ECMAScript 2017 Read More	Added string padding Added Object.entries() Added Object.values() Added async functions Added shared memory Allows trailing commas for function parameters
	ECMAScript 2018 Read More	Added rest / spread properties Added asynchronous iteration Added Promise.finally() Additions to RegExp
	ECMAScript 2019 Read More	String.trimStart() String.trimEnd() Array.flat() Object.fromEntries Optional catch binding
	ECMAScript 2020 Read More	The Nullish Coalescing Operator (??)

This guide explains all JavaScript versions:

Modern web browsers fully support ECMAScript versions 1 to 6.

Internet Explorer 9 cannot handle ECMAScript 5's 'use strict' directive.

Internet Explorer cannot handle ECMAScript 2015.

❮ Previous Next ❯