Main Announcements of the JavaScript and Node.js Conference 2024

Results of the JavaScript and Node.js Conference: Main Announcements

Last week in San Francisco, the annual conference dedicated to the JavaScript ecosystem and the Node.js server platform concluded. The event gathered over 5,000 participants, including key developers from Google, Microsoft, the OpenJS Foundation, and the Deno community. We have compiled the most important announcements that will impact development in 2024–2025.

Node.js 22: New LTS Release

The main event was the release of Node.js 22, which transitioned to Long-Term Support (LTS) status. Key innovations include:

• Built-in WebSocket Client — now, working with the WebSocket protocol does not require installing third-party libraries (e.g., ws). This simplifies creating real-time applications.
• Stable ESM Loader Hooks — the final version of the API for intercepting module loading. It allows creating custom loaders (e.g., for supporting CSS or JSON in an ESM environment).
• Improved Performance — the V8 engine has been updated to version 12.4, providing an average code execution speed increase of 12%.
• Decorator Support — an experimental feature previously only available through Babel or TypeScript is now enabled by default.

TypeScript 5.6: New Compiler and Strict Checks

Microsoft announced TypeScript 5.6 Beta. Main changes:

• strictBuiltinIterator Mode — strict typing for built-in iterators (Map, Set, Array). Now TypeScript will check element types at all stages of .map().filter() chains.
• Automatic Import of Node.js Types — the compiler automatically pulls in types from @types/node when using global objects (process, Buffer).
• Experimental Compiler in Rust — a prototype of the new tsc-rs compiler was presented, promising a 3–5x build speedup for large projects.

Deno 2.0: npm Compatibility and New APIs

The Deno team presented the release candidate for Deno 2.0. Key announcements:

• Full Compatibility with npm Packages — now you can import any packages from npm without using the npm: prefix. Deno automatically resolves dependencies through its own cache.
• Built-in Test Runner with Coverage — the deno test command now supports generating code coverage reports in LCOV and HTML formats.
• Node.js Compatible Mode — the --compat flag enables emulation of Node.js global objects (require, process.env, __dirname), simplifying migration of existing projects.

V8 12.4: Memory Optimization and WebAssembly

The V8 engine, which powers Node.js and Chrome, received significant improvements:

• Compressed pointers — for 64-bit systems, pointers are compressed