ES2015

ES2015, or ES6 as it was previously known, was JavaScript's biggest advance. I'll list the new features in order of their importance (to me!).

#Promises

JavaScript is used is connect Internet resources. Waiting for resources such as remote databases to respond with data is a constant issue. Synchronous code froze websites while waiting for data. Asynchronous coding is the norm now, with the parts of the code running while other parts wait for data.

In ES5 and earlier, asynchronous coding used callbacks. Callbacks are double functions, in which the second function is an argument to the first function. The first function executes and then waits for the data to return, or a user to click a button, etc., and then the second function executes. Here is an example of a callback function:

myFirstFunction(function(error, data) {
   if (error) {
      console.log(error);
   } else {
      // render docs
   };
});

What if you have five or ten things to do after the data returns or the user clicks the button? You can nest callbacks:

myFirstFunction(function(error, data) {
   if (error) {
      console.log(error);
   } else {
      // render docs (function(error, data) {
           if (error) {
              console.log(error);
              } else {
              // render docs (function(error, data) {
              // and so on...
      };
   };
});

This is called callback hell or the pyramid of death.

Promises fix this problem. A promise is a proxy for a value which may be available now, in the future, or never.

Promises always have two handlers resolve and reject.

Promises have three states: pending, fulfilled, and rejected.

Promise prototypes have two methods that are almost always used:

• .then(onFulfilled, on Rejected) takes two arguments, typically data and error.
• .catch(onRejected) takes one argument, typically error.

Promises have four other methods which are less commonly used:

• all is used for aggregating the results of multiple promises into an array of values.
• race is also used with multiple promises, but returns when one of the promises fulfills.
• reject -- not sure how this differs from catch.
• resolve -- not sure how this differs from then.

The basic syntax of promises is:

function myFunction() {
   // ...
};

myFunction.then(
   // ...
)
.catch(
   console.log(error);
);