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It's important to know how javascript releases work. The best way to start understanding javascript versions is by looking at the history of javascript. Let's start at the beginning of the internet itself. So, quickly after the internet was invented and the first web browser was developed. Developers wanted to start making websites more interactive. In other words, they needed a programming language for the browser.
JavaScript is a high-level, object-oriented programming language that was first introduced in 1995 by Brendan Eich while he was working at Netscape Communications. Originally called Mocha, then later renamed to LiveScript, it was finally renamed to JavaScript to leverage the popularity of Java at the time.
Here is a brief history of JavaScript versions:
JavaScript 1.0 : The first version of JavaScript was released in 1995 and included basic functionality such as variables, loops, conditional statements, and functions.
JavaScript 1.1 : Released in 1996, this version added support for Regular Expressions, better error handling, and other minor improvements.
JavaScript 1.2 : Released in 1997, this version introduced many new features including support for objects, try/catch exception handling, and more.
JavaScript 1.3 : Released in 1998, this version added support for new features such as the ability to define custom functions on built-in objects, support for the new "let" keyword, and more.
JavaScript 1.4 : Released in 1999, this version introduced support for Regular Expression improvements, conditional catch clauses, and more.
JavaScript 1.5: Released in 2000, this version added support for new features such as the ability to use "let" in loops, array methods like "map", "filter", and "reduce", and more.
ECMAScript 3 : Released in 1999, this version was the first to be standardized by the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA). This version was a major update that included many new features such as try/catch/finally, new methods for arrays and strings, and more.
ECMAScript 4 : This version was never officially released, but it was a major effort to update the language with new features like classes, modules, and other enhancements. However, due to disagreements among browser vendors, this version was eventually abandoned.
ECMAScript 5 : Released in 2009, this version introduced many new features such as strict mode, JSON support, and new array methods like forEach(), map(), reduce(), and filter().
ECMAScript 6 : Also known as ES2015, this version was released in 2015 and introduced significant changes and additions such as let and const keywords for variable declaration, arrow functions, template literals, destructuring, classes, modules, and more.
Since then, new versions of ECMAScript have been released on a yearly basis, with each new version introducing new features and improvements.