1. New JavaScript Elements

In this section, we present the most important new language elements introduced to JavaScript by ECMAScript 2015+ (that is, 2015+16+17+18+19+20+...).

1.1. Block-Scope Variable Declarations with let and const

ES5 did not allow declaring variables the scope of which is a block delimited by a pair of curly braces, { and }, or defined by a for loop. Rather, all variables declared with var, even if declared within a block, have either a function scope or the global scope. The new feature of block-scope variable declarations with letand constallows declaring local variables with a finer-grained scope, which helps avoiding unintended variable duplications and leads to more modular code.

There is only one meaning difference between let and const. Variables declared with const are frozen or immutable, and in this sense constant, while let variables are not. It is preferable to use const for all variables that are not supposed to change their values. Otherwise, or if this is not clear, one should declare the variable with let if it is a block-scoped variable, or with var if it is a global or function-scoped variable.

1.2. Arrow Functions

Compared to classical JS functions, arrow functions (with =>) provide a more concise function expression syntax, see Ex. 1, and allow using JavaScript's this variable from the function’s outer environment (its closure) in their function body, see Ex. 2.

Example 2.1. Code Example 1
let evens = [0,2,4,6,8];
let odds = evens.map( v => v+1);  // [1,3,5,7,9]
// instead of evens.map( function (v) {return v+1;})
Example 2.2. Code Example 2
this.nums = [1,3,5,8,10,12,15,17];
this.fives = [];
this.nums.forEach( v => {if (v % 5 === 0) this.fives.push(v);});
// instead of this.nums.forEach( 
//     function (v) {if (v % 5 === 0) this.fives.push(v);}, this)

1.3. For-Of Loops over Iterable Objects

Iterable objects include strings, arrays, array-like objects (e.g., the built-in arguments object or instances of HTMLCollections and NodeList), and instances of the datatype objects TypedArray, Map, and Set, as well as user-defined iterables. For instance,

const divElems = document.getElementsByTagName("div");
// an HTMLCollection is iterable
for (let dEl of divElems) {
  console.log( dEl.id);
}

A for-of loop is often more handy than a for loop whenever a counter variable is not needed. As opposed to a forEach loop, a for-of loop allows iterating over HTMLCollections and can be abandoned with break.

1.4. Template Literals

... are enclosed by backtick characters (like `... `) instead of double or single quotes and allow a concise syntax for (possibly multi-line) string values resulting from a combination of fixed text parts and variables/expressions. For instance,

const classValues = "card important";
const name = "Joker";
const htmlTemplate = `<div class="${classValues}">
  <p>Hello ${name}!</p>
</div>`

1.5. The Spread Operator

...allows spreading (1) the elements of an iterable collection in places where arguments for function calls or array elements are expected, or (2) the slots of a JS object in places where name-value pairs are expected. For instance,

let nums = [3,4,5], otherNums = [1, 2, ...nums];  // [1,2,3,4,5]
// cloning an array
let numsClone = [...nums];
// cloning an object
let book = {title:"JavaScript: The Good Parts"};
let bookClone = {...book};

1.6. Destructuring Assignments

...allow a concise syntax for assigning the property values of a JS object or the elements of a JS array to corresponding variables. For instance,

var point1 = [10,5];
var [x,y] = point1;  // a destructuring assignment
console.log(`x = ${x} | y = ${y}`);  // x = 10 | y = 5

var person1 = {firstName:"James", lastName:"Bond"};
var {first, last} = person1;
console.log(`first:${first} | last:${last}`);
// Output: first:James | last:Bond
Example 2.3. Use Case 1: Dealing with multiple return values of a function
function getRectangle () {
  return {width: 50, height: 20};
}
const {a, b} = getRectangle();
drawRectangle( a, b);
Example 2.4. Use Case 2: Swapping two variables
var a = 1, b = 2;
[a,b] = [b,a];
console.log(`a = ${a} | b = ${b}`);
// Output: a = 2 | b = 1
Example 2.5. Use Case 3: Cloning arrays
const list = ['red', 'orange', 'yellow'];
const [...listClone] = list;
Example 2.6. Use Case 4: Simplifying functions with parameter records

A function parameter record allows using named arguments in funcction calls instead of argument lists like so:

function displayName( paramRec) {
  alert( paramRec.first + " " + paramRec.last);
};
displayName({first:"James", last:"Bond"});

Using Destructuring, the parameter record fields are assigned to ordinary function parameters, simplifying the function's code:

function displayName({first, last}) {
  alert( first + " " + last);
}
displayName({first:"James", last:"Bond"});