JavaScript History
JavaScript / ECMAScript
JavaScript was invented by Brendan Eich in 1995.
It was developed for the Netscape browser, and then handed over to ECMA and became the ECMA-262 standard in 1997.
What is ECMA?
ECMA stands for the European Computer Manufacturers Association.
It was founded in 1961 as a non-profit industry association to develop standards for information technology, electronics, and programming languages.
ECMA is now officially known as Ecma International to reflect its global reach.
ECMAScript 1 - 3
| 1995 | JavaScript was invented by Brendan Eich |
|---|---|
| 1996 | Netscape 2 was released with JavaScript 1.0 |
| 1997 | JavaScript became an ECMA standard (ECMA-262) |
| 1997 | ECMAScript 1 (ES1) was released |
| 1997 | Internet Explorer 4 was the first browser to support ES1 |
| 1998 | ECMAScript 2 (ES2) was released |
| 1999 | Internet Explorer 5 was the first browser to support ES2 |
| 1999 | ECMAScript 3 (ES3) was released |
| 2000 | Internet Explorer 5.5 was the first browser to support ES3 |
| 2008 | ECMAScript 4 was abandoned |
ECMAScript 5
| 2009 | ECMAScript 5 (ES5) was released |
|---|---|
| 2011 | Full support for ES5 in Internet Explorer 9 |
| 2012 | Full support for ES5 in Safari 6 |
| 2012 | Full support for ES5 in Internet Explorer 10 |
| 2012 | Full support for ES5 in Chrome 23 |
| 2013 | Full support for ES5 in Firefox 21 |
| 2013 | Full support for ES5 in Opera 15 |
| 2014 | Full support for ES5 in all browsers |
ECMAScript 6
| 2015 | ECMAScript 6 (ES6) was released |
|---|---|
| 2016 | Full support for ES6 in Chrome 51 |
| 2016 | Full support for ES6 in Opera 38 |
| 2016 | Full support for ES6 in Safari 10 |
| 2017 | Full support for ES6 in Firefox 54 |
| 2017 | Full support for ES6 in Edge 15 |
The ECMA Technical Committee 39
In 1996, Netscape and Brendan Eich took JavaScript to the ECMA international standards organization, and a technical committee (TC39) was created to develop the language.
ECMA-262 Edition 1 was released in June 1997.
From ES4 to ES6
When the TC39 committee got together in Oslo in 2008, to agree on ECMAScript 4, they were divided into 2 very different camps:
The ECMAScript 3.1 Camp:
Microsoft and Yahoo who wanted an incremental upgrade from ES3.
The ECMAScript 4 Camp:
Adobe, Mozilla, Opera, and Google who wanted a massive ES4 upgrade.
August 13 2008, Brendan Eich wrote an email:
It's no secret that the JavaScript standards body, Ecma's Technical Committee 39, has been split for over a year, with some members favoring ES4, a major fourth edition to ECMA-262, and others advocating ES3.1 based on the existing ECMA-262 Edition 3 (ES3) specification. Now, I'm happy to report, the split is over.
The solution was to work together:
- ECMAScript 4 was renamed to ES5
- ES5 should be an incremental upgrade of ECMAScript 3.
- Features of ECMAScript 4 should be picked up in later versions.
- TC39 should develop a new major release, bigger in scope than ES5.
The planned new release (ES6) was codenamed "Harmony" (Because of the split it created?).
ES5 was a huge success. It was released in 2009, and all major browsers (including Internet Explorer) were fully compliant by July 2013:
| Nov 2012 | Sep 2012 | May 2013 | Jul 2012 | Jul 2013 |
ES6 was also a huge success. It was released in 2015, and all major browsers were fully compliant by March 2017:
| May 2016 | Aug 2016 | Mar 2017 | Sep 2016 | Jun 2016 |
Internet Explorer Retirement
Internet Explorer 11 was the last major version of Internet Explorer.
On June 15, 2022, the Internet Explorer 11 desktop application was replaced by Microsft Edge 79 in Windows 10.
| Date | Announcement |
|---|---|
| 15-06-2020 | First Announcement: IE 11 goes out of support on June 15 2022 |
| 15-06-2020 | Internet Explorer is replaced by Edge 79 in Windows 10 |
| 30-11-2020 | MS Teams ended support for IE 11 |
| 31-12-2020 | Azure DevOps Services ended support for IE 11 |
| 31-03-2021 | Azure Portal ended support for IE 11 |
| 24-06-2021 | Internet Explorer is disabled in Windows 11 |
| 17-08-2021 | Microsoft ended support for IE 11 across web services: Office 365 - OneDrive - Outlook |
| 15-06-2022 | Microsoft ends all support for IE 11 |
Edge Lagacy Retirement
The first versions of Microsoft Edge (12-18) are referred to as "Edge Legacy".
Edge was the default browser for Windows 10.
Microsoft also ended support for Edge Legasy on June 15, 2022.
| Date | Announcement |
|---|---|
| 31-12-2020 | Azure DevOps Services stops supporting Edge Legacy |
| 09-03-2021 | End of Windows updates for Edge Legacy |
| 09-03-2021 | Microsoft support for for Edge Legacy ended |
| 13-04-2021 | Future Windows updates will remove Edge Legacy |
| 15-06-2022 | Microsoft ends all support for Edge Legacy |
The New Microsoft Edge
The new Edge 79 was released in January 2020 and is available for Windows 7, 8, 10, and 11.
It uses the Chromium open-source engine (same core as Google Chrome)
It is faster, more secure, and more compatible with modern websites
It supports Chrome extensions
It has a new logo and updated user interface
It follows the Modern Lifecycle Policy (updates on an approx. six-week cycle)
It can also be downloaded for macOS, iOS, and Android
It replaces Edge Legacy, which reached end of support on March 9, 2021
