JavaScript Versions
JavaScript was invented by Brendan Eich in 1995, and became an ECMA standard in 1997.
ECMAScript is the official name of the language.
From 2015 ECMAScript is named by year (ECMAScript 2015).
ECMAScript Editions
| Ver | Official Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ECMAScript 1 (1997) | First Edition. |
| 2 | ECMAScript 2 (1998) | Editorial changes only. |
| 3 | ECMAScript 3 (1999) | Added Regular Expressions. Added try/catch. |
| 4 | ECMAScript 4 | Never released. |
| 5 | ECMAScript 5 (2009) Read More: JS ES5 |
Added "strict mode". Added JSON support. Added String.trim(). Added Array.isArray(). Added Array Iteration Methods. |
| 5.1 | ECMAScript 5.1 (2011) | Editorial changes. |
| 6 | ECMAScript 2015 Read More: JS ES6 |
Added let and const. Added default parameter values. Added Array.find(). Added Array.findIndex(). |
| 7 | ECMAScript 2016 | Added exponential operator (**). Added Array.prototype.includes. |
| 8 | ECMAScript 2017 | Added string padding. Added new Object properties. Added Async functions. Added Shared Memory. |
| 9 | ECMAScript 2018 |
Added rest / spread properties. Added Asynchronous iteration. Added Promise.finally(). Additions to RegExp. |
ECMAScript is often abbreviated to ES.
Browser Support
ECMAScript 3 is fully supported in all browsers.
ECMAScript 5 is fully supported in all modern browsers.
Browser Support for ES5 (2009)
| Browser | Version | From Date |
|---|---|---|
| Chrome | 23 | Sep 2012 |
| Firefox | 21 | Apr 2013 |
| IE | 9* | Mar 2011 |
| IE / Edge | 10 | Sep 2012 |
| Safari | 6 | Jul 2012 |
| Opera | 15 | Jul 2013 |
* Internet Explorer 9 does not support ECMAScript 5 "use strict".
Browser Support for ES6 (ECMAScript 2015)
| Browser | Version | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Chrome | 51 | May 2016 |
| Firefox | 54 | Jun 2017 |
| Edge | 14 | Aug 2016 |
| Safari | 10 | Sep 2016 |
| Opera | 38 | Jun 2016 |
Internet Explorer does not support ECMAScript 2015.
Browser Support for ES7 (ECMAScript 2016)
| Browser | Version | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Chrome | 68 | May 2018 |
| Opera | 55 | Aug 2018 |
JavaScript / ECMAScript
JavaScript was developed for Netscape. Netscape 2 was the first browser to run JavaScript.
After Netscape the Mozilla foundation continued to develop JavaScript for the Firefox browser.
The latest JavaScript version was 1.8.5. (Identical to ECMAScript 5).
ECMAScript was developed by ECMA International after the organization adopted JavaScript.
The first edition of ECMAScript was released in 1997.
This list compares the version numbers of the different products:
| Year | JavaScript | ECMA | Browser |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 1.0 | Netscape 2 | |
| 1997 | ECMAScript 1 | IE 4 | |
| 1998 | 1.3 | Netscape 4 | |
| 1999 | ECMAScript 2 | IE 5 | |
| 2000 | ECMAScript 3 | IE 5.5 | |
| 2000 | 1.5 | Netscape 6 | |
| 2000 | 1.5 | Firefox 1 | |
| 2011 | ECMAScript 5 | IE 9 (Except "use strict") | |
| 2011 | 1.8.5 | Firefox 4 (Except leading zeroes in parseInt) | |
| 2012 | IE 10 | ||
| 2012 | Chrome 23 | ||
| 2012 | Safari 6 | ||
| 2013 | Firefox 21 | ||
| 2013 | Opera 15 | ||
| 2015 | ECMAScript 2015 | Partially Supported in all Browser |
IE 4 was the first browser to support ECMAScript 1 (1997).
IE 5 was the first browser to support ECMAScript 2 (1999).
IE 5.5 was the first browser to support ECMAScript 3 (2000).
IE 9* was the first browser to support ECMAScript 5 (2011).
Internet Explorer 9 does not support ECMAScript 5 "use strict".
Chrome 23, IE 10, and Safari 6 were the first browsers to fully support ECMAScript 5:
| Chrome 23 | IE10 / Edge | Firefox 21 | Safari 6 | Opera 15 |
| Sep 2012 | Sep 2012 | Apr 2013 | Jul 2012 | Jul 2013 |
