Node.js + Io.js = Node.js 4.0.0

Big changes have occurred in the world of web development. Yesterday, the Node.js Foundation announced the first merger of the Node.js and Io.js repositories . After the merging of Javascript platforms, the final release of Node.js 4.0.0 was released.

Node.js is a software platform based on the Chrome V8 engine that allows you to develop general purpose Javascript applications that run on any platforms. Node.js adds the ability of Javascript to interact with I / O devices through its API in C ++, to include external libraries in different languages. Node.js as a server platform is used on IBM, Microsoft, Yahoo, SAP, LinkedIn, PayPal, GoDaddy and many other companies.

Fork Io.js was created in December 2014 by developers dissatisfied with the way Joyent managed the project, did not accept input from third-party developers, did not support the latest versions of the V8 engine, and even incorrectly assigned numbers to new versions.

Shortly after fork, the Node.js Foundation was created to develop Node.js. Independent developers were invited to the project, and now the version numbering has been brought into line with the standard. Thus, the reasons for supporting fork disappeared, and in May 2015 it was decided to merge the branches and further develop under the auspices of the Node.js Foundation.
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This example perfectly demonstrates the effectiveness of the principles of self-organization in the open-source community, which without centralized management becomes more efficient and is able to successfully develop on the enthusiasm of the participants.

“This release marks uncountable hours of hard work on both the Node.js project and the Io.js project, which are now combined into a common code base,” the Node.js Foundation official blog said . - There are now 44 members working on the Node.js project, of which 15 are members of the Technical Steering Committee (TSC). In addition, more than a hundred individuals have been added to the list of authors of patches since the release of version 0.12.7.

Node.js 4.0.0 supports the V8 version 4.5 engine, as well as the latest version of the Chrome browser. This gives many advantages to Node.js users, and most important among them is a number of new ES6 features included by default. ”

For a list of differences between Node.js 0.12 and Node.js 4.0, see the wiki .

The Node.js Foundation is pleased to note that thanks to donations from Rackspace, DigitalOcean, Scaleway, miniNodes, Voxer, Joyent, CloudFlare, ARM Holdings and individuals, they managed to raise a powerful test cluster with machines under different versions of Linux, OS X, Windows, FreeBSD and SmartOS.

Now, Node.js also has first-class support for ARM processors, and the tests will constantly run on ARMv6, ARMv7 and new 64-bit ARMv8 processors.

Announced plans to release Node.js with long-term support (LTS) and a continuous development cycle with regular platform updates. Over the coming weeks, the first bug fixes and updates with new functionality will be released.

The first LTS is scheduled for October 2015. At this moment there will be a branch of Node.js 5.0 and a new series of stable releases will start, starting with Node.js 5.0.0. The support for the 4.x line will last 18 months from the date of the release of the LTS, and then for it another 12 months will be issued security fixes.

In parallel, new branches on a stable channel will be generated every six months: annually in October and April.