Comment by wycats
11 years ago
Important to note: because JavaScript itself is always backwards-compatible (1JS), any code that runs on Node will run on iojs, but not necessarily vice versa.
That means there need not be a split in the ecosystem: people who want maximal coverage can target ES5, while people who want the latest features can target ES6. Unlike the browser, however, where people can't control their runtimes, I suspect there will be much less tolerance for sticking with older versions of JavaScript.
Indeed, the pain and suffering people have felt with IE6 will likely make everyone much more willing to reject an unnecessary lowest-common-denominator approach on the server. We're liberated on the server. Let's act like it.
> We're liberated on the server.
I'm liberated on the server in my own app, but not necessarily if I'm publishing something for everyone to use. In that case I'm either forced to feature-detect my way along, or target certain engines. The reason I think the latter will happen is devs to whom node was an escape-hatch from client-side hell will loathe the idea of going back. E.g. [1]
[1] https://twitter.com/brianleroux/status/554753200503271424
> Important to note: because JavaScript itself is always backwards-compatible (1JS), any code that runs on Node will run on iojs, but not necessarily vice versa.
Though I'd imagine this will not hold true with addons, seeing as there are vastly different versions of the V8 engine.