5 ms·

V8 Release 5.0 (upcoming)

91 points by onestone 11y ago

STRML 11y ago
This is a nice release. I've always been confused about V8 versioning. Breaking changes appear to come all the time in minor versions. And there's this note from the release: > Note: The version number 5.0 does not carry semantic significance or mark a major release (as opposed to a minor release). So what does it mark? Why 5.0 at all then?
- apaprocki 11y ago
  They changed their versioning process to align with Chrome. Chrome 50 == v8 5.0, Chrome 51 == v8 5.1, etc.
  - natorion 11y ago
    Correct. Major versions make more sense when you create a release based on the content. V8 is creating its releases based on time (~6 week cadence). So a 'major' version is nothing special anymore. In 4.9 we greatly expanded our ES2015 support which was huge but only incremented the minor version because of the same reason. Disclaimer: I work on the V8 team.
    - ufmace 11y ago
      Incidentally, I found a nice list of upcoming Chrome/V8 features and status here: https://www.chromestatus.com/features https://www.chromestatus.com/features
    - bryanlarsen 11y ago
      If you're going to use meaningless version numbers, then it would be better if you used something that didn't imply otherwise. Chrome 50 carries exactly the right connotation, IMO.
    - STRML 11y ago
      Why not date-based version numbers, then, or as bryanlarsen stated, something obviously meaningless, like the Chrome/FF numbers? Edit: By the way, sorry to derail the conversation. You guys are doing great work! I'm always excited about V8 updates because they generally mean great perf/feature improvements to both the most popular browsers and my runtime of choice, NodeJS.
      - natorion 11y ago
        The reason is simply 'legacy'. Maybe we will change our version numbers to something without major.minor versions.
    - TheAceOfHearts 11y ago
      Maybe this is a stupid question... But why not straight up copy Chrome and jump up to v50 instead of v5.0?
- quarterto 11y ago
  Perhaps they want to align with Node.js version numbering?
  - Cthulhu_ 11y ago
    It's more likely the other way around; Node runs on V8, not the other way around.
ausjke 11y ago
How does nodejs sync with V8 releases? ECMA-version, V8-version, Node-version, Javascript-version, browser-version with different features support, it's quite a bit.
- onestone 11y ago
  Node.js Stable tries to follow the V8 version from latest stable Chrome quite closely (i.e. soon after the corresponding Chrome release), but occasionally a V8 version may be skipped, e.g. if it has problematic API changes. Node.js LTS branches stay on a fixed V8 version.
  - jerrysievert 11y ago
    we just managed to get plv8 tracking against the same v8 versions as node (4.4-4.10). v8 moves very quickly, and even the redhat/debian package maintainers are still distributing 3.14.
madeofpalk 11y ago
Optimisations for ES6 features is great! Any idea how V8 releases relate to Node (especially now post-io.js)? When could we see these improvements on the server?
- ilkkao 11y ago
  Node.js is easy to compile from sources. Basically when https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/5592 https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/5592 gets merged, all that is needed is git clone git@github.com:nodejs/node.git; cd node ; git checkout vee-eight-5.0; ./configure; make; make install to start experimenting.
- davej 11y ago
  > Any idea how V8 releases relate to Node (especially now post-io.js)? When could we see these improvements on the server? April and October are the planned release months for a new major node version AFAIK. The April releases then become LTS releases in October. October releases don't become LTS. Presumably new major node versions will be cut from the latest stable (or perhaps stable - 1, depending on timing) V8 release. Might be wrong about this, so I'm open to correction.
jackhack 11y ago
Surely I'm not the only one asking "what is this/should I care?" (three clicks later...) V8 is a javascript engine that supports web assembly.
- positr0n 11y ago
  To give you more context, it is not just "a" javascript engine. It is the engine behind node.jj, Google Chrome, and others!
- tajen 11y ago
  V8 is the js engine. The one that is so fast because it compiles in JIT, the one that powers Chrome and Node.js, the one that enabled a full range of let's-build-a-full-app-in-a-browser apps. Also for the worse: the one that lets us include 10Mb of js in a browser.
  - coldtea 11y ago
    >The one that is so fast because it compiles in JIT That's true for all modern JS engines (JavaScriptCore, Edge, SpiderMonkey, v8) and has been for several years (almost a decade).
    - Cthulhu_ 11y ago
      But only after V8; before that, JS performance had no priority in browsers.
      - azakai 11y ago
        That's a common mistake, but JITs in WebKit and Gecko came out at around the same time as v8. Their development began before v8 launched. edit: For example, see the dates on Wikipedia, v8 launched September 2008, and WebKit's Nitro (SFX) JIT launched in the same month. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit#JavaScriptCore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit#JavaScriptCore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V8_(JavaScript_engine) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V8_(JavaScript_engine)
Already__Taken 11y ago
I've heard there's some V8 changes coming down the pipeline that will end up allowing node to use the serialport package without compiling anything native. Have I heard wrong?
- s3th 11y ago
  Something related to debugging? Perhaps you came across this thread? https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/2546#issuecomment-189311746 https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/2546#issuecomment-1893...
kozak 11y ago
Any idea when ES6 modules (via the <module> HTML tag) are coming?
- s3th 11y ago
  We just sent out an intent to ship this week! [0] They're trickier to implement than other ES6 features since they require coordination with the Blink side of Chromium. [0]: https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/blink-dev/uba6pMr-jec https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/blink...
NodeJSDude 11y ago
Anyone know the V8 version that they are targeting for node.js 6? There are some sweet features in ES6 V8 4.9 that I would love to start using including optional arguments and array based destructuring.

91 points by onestone 11y ago

STRML 11y ago

This is a nice release. I've always been confused about V8 versioning. Breaking changes appear to come all the time in minor versions. And there's this note from the release: > Note: The version number 5.0 does not carry semantic significance or mark a major release (as opposed to a minor release). So what does it mark? Why 5.0 at all then?

apaprocki 11y ago
They changed their versioning process to align with Chrome. Chrome 50 == v8 5.0, Chrome 51 == v8 5.1, etc.
- natorion 11y ago
  Correct. Major versions make more sense when you create a release based on the content. V8 is creating its releases based on time (~6 week cadence). So a 'major' version is nothing special anymore. In 4.9 we greatly expanded our ES2015 support which was huge but only incremented the minor version because of the same reason. Disclaimer: I work on the V8 team.
  - ufmace 11y ago
    Incidentally, I found a nice list of upcoming Chrome/V8 features and status here: https://www.chromestatus.com/features https://www.chromestatus.com/features
  - bryanlarsen 11y ago
    If you're going to use meaningless version numbers, then it would be better if you used something that didn't imply otherwise. Chrome 50 carries exactly the right connotation, IMO.
  - STRML 11y ago
    Why not date-based version numbers, then, or as bryanlarsen stated, something obviously meaningless, like the Chrome/FF numbers? Edit: By the way, sorry to derail the conversation. You guys are doing great work! I'm always excited about V8 updates because they generally mean great perf/feature improvements to both the most popular browsers and my runtime of choice, NodeJS.
    - natorion 11y ago
      The reason is simply 'legacy'. Maybe we will change our version numbers to something without major.minor versions.
  - TheAceOfHearts 11y ago
    Maybe this is a stupid question... But why not straight up copy Chrome and jump up to v50 instead of v5.0?
quarterto 11y ago
Perhaps they want to align with Node.js version numbering?
- Cthulhu_ 11y ago
  It's more likely the other way around; Node runs on V8, not the other way around.

ausjke 11y ago

How does nodejs sync with V8 releases? ECMA-version, V8-version, Node-version, Javascript-version, browser-version with different features support, it's quite a bit.

onestone 11y ago
Node.js Stable tries to follow the V8 version from latest stable Chrome quite closely (i.e. soon after the corresponding Chrome release), but occasionally a V8 version may be skipped, e.g. if it has problematic API changes. Node.js LTS branches stay on a fixed V8 version.
- jerrysievert 11y ago
  we just managed to get plv8 tracking against the same v8 versions as node (4.4-4.10). v8 moves very quickly, and even the redhat/debian package maintainers are still distributing 3.14.

madeofpalk 11y ago

Optimisations for ES6 features is great! Any idea how V8 releases relate to Node (especially now post-io.js)? When could we see these improvements on the server?

ilkkao 11y ago
Node.js is easy to compile from sources. Basically when https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/5592 https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/5592 gets merged, all that is needed is git clone git@github.com:nodejs/node.git; cd node ; git checkout vee-eight-5.0; ./configure; make; make install to start experimenting.
davej 11y ago
> Any idea how V8 releases relate to Node (especially now post-io.js)? When could we see these improvements on the server? April and October are the planned release months for a new major node version AFAIK. The April releases then become LTS releases in October. October releases don't become LTS. Presumably new major node versions will be cut from the latest stable (or perhaps stable - 1, depending on timing) V8 release. Might be wrong about this, so I'm open to correction.

jackhack 11y ago

Surely I'm not the only one asking "what is this/should I care?" (three clicks later...) V8 is a javascript engine that supports web assembly.

positr0n 11y ago
To give you more context, it is not just "a" javascript engine. It is the engine behind node.jj, Google Chrome, and others!
tajen 11y ago
V8 is the js engine. The one that is so fast because it compiles in JIT, the one that powers Chrome and Node.js, the one that enabled a full range of let's-build-a-full-app-in-a-browser apps. Also for the worse: the one that lets us include 10Mb of js in a browser.
- coldtea 11y ago
  >The one that is so fast because it compiles in JIT That's true for all modern JS engines (JavaScriptCore, Edge, SpiderMonkey, v8) and has been for several years (almost a decade).
  - Cthulhu_ 11y ago
    But only after V8; before that, JS performance had no priority in browsers.
    - azakai 11y ago
      That's a common mistake, but JITs in WebKit and Gecko came out at around the same time as v8. Their development began before v8 launched. edit: For example, see the dates on Wikipedia, v8 launched September 2008, and WebKit's Nitro (SFX) JIT launched in the same month. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit#JavaScriptCore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit#JavaScriptCore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V8_(JavaScript_engine) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V8_(JavaScript_engine)

Already__Taken 11y ago

I've heard there's some V8 changes coming down the pipeline that will end up allowing node to use the serialport package without compiling anything native. Have I heard wrong?

s3th 11y ago
Something related to debugging? Perhaps you came across this thread? https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/2546#issuecomment-189311746 https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/2546#issuecomment-1893...

kozak 11y ago

Any idea when ES6 modules (via the <module> HTML tag) are coming?

s3th 11y ago
We just sent out an intent to ship this week! [0] They're trickier to implement than other ES6 features since they require coordination with the Blink side of Chromium. [0]: https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/blink-dev/uba6pMr-jec https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/blink...

NodeJSDude 11y ago

Anyone know the V8 version that they are targeting for node.js 6? There are some sweet features in ES6 V8 4.9 that I would love to start using including optional arguments and array based destructuring.