ES6

An introduction to help ramp you up quickly with ES6 features, tools and syntax - there's even a short section on ES7. Please read the contributions section and check back from time to time for intermittent updates.

History

ECMAScript is now 17 years old with it's birth in 1997
- ECMAScript is the standard. JavaScript, ActionScript and JScript are implementations of it
- JavaScript popularized two paradigms on the web, functional programming and prototypal inheritance (objects without classes)
- JavaScript first appeared in Navigator 2.0 browser and has appeared in all subsequent browsers from Netscape and in all browsers from Microsoft starting with Internet Explorer 3.0
- JavaScript was designed with C-like syntax with curly braces, the statement/expression dichotmory, dot notation etc
- ECMAScript is designed by TC39 and operates on consensus

A brief snapshot of it's history:

Edition	Year	Notes
1	1997	Oracle (prev. Sun) had trademark to Java, therefore JavaScript
2	1998	ECMA International creates the ECMA-262 standard
3	1999	Introduced many features inherint in the language today
*3.1	2008	Eventually standardized as the 5th of ECMA-262, also described as ECMAScript 5
*4	abandoned	Abandoned due to political reasons
5	2009	Added 'use strict' ( aligns with 3+ )
5.1	2011	Maintenance revision (alings with 3+ )
6	2015	Significant features added, that's why you're here
7	2016	Released, seventh edition of ECMAScript
8	2017	Released, eighth edition of ECMAScript

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ES6 Introduction

ES6 is the newest addition to the language and adds significant new syntax for writing complex JavaScript applications.

There is 5 years between ES5 and ES6.
'ES6' is the first ECMAScript Harmony specification and is also known as ES Harmony, ES2015, ES.next but commonly referred to as ES6.
The specification was finalized in June 2015as it reached feature complete status
- Subsequent versions will be released on a 12 month cadence, and will be dubbed ES7, ES2016 respectively.

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Tools

You should want to experiment and play around with code — it's easy to get up and running. There are several techniques and the premise all these tools are built upon is called transpiling, or JavaScript to JavaScript transpiling which compiles the latest version into older versions.

Transpilation is the future for future ECMAScript such as ES2015 and ES2016
The most popular JavaScript transpilers are Babel and was previously known as 6to5 and traceur
Transpilation is possible to incorporate into your build process using Broccoli, Gulp, Browserify, RequireJS, Webpack et al and friends.

The easiest way to get up and running in the web browser:

In the web browser you can use the online Babel REPL — this compiles ES6 to ES5 and you don't have to install anything.
Another web based tool is Scratch JS and comes in the form of a chrome extension. This interactive playground let's you transpile your code in the all familiar dev tools environment.

If you prefer the command line:

Use Node,js v4.x.x or >, they support is in-built for Babel
Run npm install -g babel' and babel node`

Using an IDE:

You can easily use Babel to transpile your code in Webstorm, the setup won't take more than a couple of moments.

Node has decent built in support for ES6 thanks for the V8 engine:

Node suports ES6 features split into three groups
Shipping: which do not require a runtime flag
Staged: almost-complete features that are not considered stable
In progress: features can be individually activated by their respective harmony flag --harmony_destrucuting

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Block Scoping

ES6 introduces block scoping:

anything between { ... } introduces it's own scope
this works like an IIFE
functions are block scoped in ES6
this is more mainstream than function scoping which makes it easier when coming from or moving to other languages

{
    let quux = "Hello World from ES6";
    console.log(quux); // => Hello World from ES6
}

{
    let foo = "This has a different scope";
    console.log(foo); // => This has a different scope
}

console.log(quux); // Reference Error: quux is not defined

In ES5 you would use the function as the fundamental construct for all your variable scoping.

var x = 7;

(function iife() {
  var x = 10;
  console.log( x ); // => 10;
})();

console.log( x ); // 7

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Let and Const

let and const are two new identifiers for storing values in ES6 which you can additionally use to declare variables 'let' and 'const' throw more exceptions as they behave more strictly than 'var'

let is block scoped and is hoisted to the top of it's block, unlike var which is hoisted to the top of it's function or script
const is also block scoped and is also hoisted to the top of it's block
- it's worth noting that in ES6 functions are block scoped instead of lexically scoped 'var`
let does not create a property on the global object
const creates immutable variables, whilst let create mutable ones
a duplicate declaration of let will throw a Reference Error within a block or function
this is also known as TDZ or temporal dead zone
Basic rules to follow:
don't use var, or leave it as a signal in untouched legacy code.
use let when you want to rebind.
prefer const for variables that never change.
don't blindly refactor legacy code when replacing var with let and const.

How let works:

function myfunc() {
  if ( true ) {
    let x = 54321;
  }
  console.log( x ); // => ReferenceError: x is not defined  
}

// legacy ES5
 function myfunc() {
   if ( true ) {
     var x = 54321;
   }
   console.log( x ); // => 54321 
 }

Using block scoped let:

let outer = "outer";
{
  let inner = "inner";
    { 
      let nested = "nested"
    }
  console.log( inner ); // => you can access `inner`
  console.log( nested ) // => throws error  
} 
// you can access `outer` here
// you cannot access `inner` and `nested` here

More scoping rules for variables declared by let. you can clearly see that when refactoring:

function letBlocks {
  let a = 23;
  if ( true ) {
    let a = 56;
    console.log( a ); // => 56
  }  
  console.log( a ); // => 23
}

How const works. Variables declared with const are immutable, but note that the values aren't just the declarations:

const foo = '123';
foo = '321';
console.log( foo ); // TypeError

// changing const values
const myarr = [1,2,3,4];
myarr.push(5);
console.log( myarr ); // => 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

const obj = {};
obj.prop = 123;
console.log( obj ); // => { Object: prop: 123 }

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Destructuring

Just like an object literal is a convenient way to construct an object, ES6 destructing allows you to extract values from data stored in objects or arrays.

You can assign to more than just variables
Destructuring can be used in assignments, variable declarations and parameters
spread and rest operators work with destructuring
You can destructure a for-of loop

Objects:

const myObj = { firstname: 'Ahad', lastname: 'Bokhari' };
const { firstName: fname, lastName: lname }; = myObj
console.log( fname, lname ); // => Ahad Bokhari

let a, b;
({ a, b } = {a: 1, b: 2});
console.log(a, b);

// deeper objects
const {
  prop1: z,
  prop2: {
    prop2: {
      nested: [ , , c]
    }
  }
} = { prop1: "Hello", prop2: { prop2: { nested: ["a", "b", "c"] }}};
console.log(z, c);

Arrays:

const myArr = [ 'y', 'z'];
const [ a, b ] = myArr;
console.log( a, b ); // => y, z

let [ a, , b ] = [ 'x', 'y', 'z' ];
console.log( a, b );

// deeper arrays
const [ a, [b, [c, d]]] = [1, [2, [[[3, 4], 5], 6 ]]];
console.log("a:", a, "b:", b, "c:", c, "d:", d); // => a: 1 b: 2 c: [ [ 3, 4 ], 5 ] d: 6

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String and Template Literals

We all know that JavaScript strings are limited and lacking in capabality, especially if you're coming from Ruby or Python. Template literals are a feature that developers will love and are basically just string literals allowing embedded expressions.

ES6 introduces string interpolation, string formatting, multiline strings and embedded expressions with template literals
Template strings use (``) rather than single or double quotes used with regular strings
Placeholders using the ${ } syntax are used from string substition and works fine with any kind of expression
expressions in between the placeholders (${expression}) and text b/w them get passed to a function

Familiarizing yourself with the syntax:

const a = `this is a template literal`;
console.log( typeof a ); // => string

const b = `You can use template literals in multiline
statements without using \\n`;
console.log( b ); // => yup, it works!

const c = `Some string text ${expression}`;

Use the following syntax to embed expressions within template literals

const a = 100,
      b = 100;
console.log(`The sum of ${a} * ${b} is ${a * b}`); 
// => The sum of 100 * 100 is 1000

const user = { name: `Ahad Bokhari` };
console.log(`You are now logged in, ${ user.name.toUpperCase() }. `);
// => You are now logged in AHAD BOKHARI

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Math and Number

Additions to integer literals have been added included octal and binary literals
Methods that have been added to Number apart from the usual four suspects are, Number.EPSILON, Number.isInteger, Number.isNaN, Number.isFinite, number.isSafeInteger
Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER, Number.MIN_SAFE_INTEGER are the largest and smalled integer that are represented in JavaScript
The math object has also received some useful methods in ES6, Math.sign, Math.trunc, Math.cbrt

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Arrays

ES6 brings an abundance of new Array methods

Array: from, of
Array.prototype: findIndex(), fill(), find(), copyWithin(), keys(), values(), entries()

Using Array.from we create a new array instance from an array-like or iterable object

var doc = document.querySelectorAll('*');
Array.from(doc).forEach(function(nodes) {
  console.log(nodes);
});

Using Array.of we create an array of variable arguments passed to the function

var arr = Array.of(true, null, undefined, `some message`, 50);
console.log( arr ); //[ true, null, undefined, "some message", 50]

Examples of additional array methods:

// copyWithin()
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].copyWithin(0, 3); // => [4, 5, 3, 4, 5]

let letters = ["A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F", "G", "H", "I", "J"];
letters.copyWithin(4, 0); // => there is an optional parameter copyWithin(4, 0, 2)
console.log(letters); // ["A", "B", "C", "D", "A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F"]

// find()
let cities = ["Beirut", "Karachi", "Islamabad", "Athens", "Kabul", "Tapei", "Bucharest"];

let t = cities.find(char => char.endsWith("t"));
console.log( t ); 

// keys()
let people = ["Ahad", "Moe", "Zoey", "Snaey"];

for( let entry of fruits.entries() ) {
  console.log(entry[0]);
  // 0
  // 1
  // 2
  // 3
  
  console.log(entry[1]);
  // Ahad
  // Moe
  // Zoey
  // Snaey
}

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Parameters

In ES6 we have a standardized and more laconic way to handle parameters ( /i.e: defaults, parameters and arguments ) which greatly reduces boilerplate code.

In ES5 you could do something like this to handle default parameters:

function multiply(x, y) {
    y = y || 10; // Default to 1
    return x * y;
}

It's counterpart in 'ES6':

function multiply(x, y = 10) {
  return x*y;
}

multiply(10); // => 100

The rest parameter has been added into the spec, which also reduces the boilerplate code for handling arguments:

function f(...theArgs) {
  console.log(theArgs.length);
}

f1();  // => 0
f1(5); // => 1
f1(5, 6, 7); // => 3

note: the arguments object is not a real array - rest params are instances of Array so you can call methods like map, forEach directly

Another example of using rest, note how we collected arguments into a real array and not an arguments object:

function logEach(...stuff) {
    stuff.forEach(function (stuff) {
        console.log(stuff);
    });
}
logEach("a", "b", "c");

The ... construct in ES6 is also used to provide “spread” for both function calls and array literals:

// => in `ES5' we'd do this
function fnes5(a, b, c) {
    console.log(a, b, c); // 1, 2, 3
}
var args = [1, 2, 3];
fnes5.apply(null, args);

// in `ES6` we avoid the use of `apply`
function fnes6(a, b, c) {
    console.log(a, b, c); // 1, 2, 3
}
var args = [1, 2, 3];
fnes6(...args); // => 1, 2, 3

Modules

At the core of modularity developers need a module system — a way to spread their work across numerous files and directories with access to each other. Without support for modules natively in ECMAScript there has been a community created effort to implement work-arounds — CommonJS and AMD being the most prevelant as they both have communities that rally around them, but are incompatible with each other. The good news is ES6, ( TC39 group ) has finalized a module syntax which developers can greatly benefit from using the best from both worlds.

The goal of modules in ES6 is to keep both CommonJS and AMD user happy with a single format and borrows the best from both worlds
ES6 modules will have a compact syntax with a preference for a single exports ( such as CommonJS )
direct support for asynchronous and configurable module loading is supported
There are two types of exports, named exports and default exports
named exports can be used to export multiple things using the keyword export
default exports used to export a default single value
To import functions, objects and primitives that have been exported from an external module use the import statement
you may import an entire modules contents, a single member or multiple members in a module

A convenient way to specify named exports as below:

// lib.js
// -------
export const quux = Math.sqrt( 2 ); // => exports a constant
export function multiply( x, y ) {
  return x * y;
} // => exports a function

export function addContact( id, callback ) {
  callback();
} // => exports a function

export function refreshContact() {
  alert( `Hello ES6 Modules` );
} // => exports a function

And of course import them into another file:

// main.js
// -------
import quux from 'lib';
import { multiply, addContact, refreshContact } from 'lib';

console.log( quux ); // => 1.4142135623730951
console.log( multiply(10, 10); // => 1000
console.log(addContact(1, refreshContact)); // => alerts `Hello ES6 Modules`
// app.js
// ------
// import the whole module
import * as lib from 'lib'

console.log( lib.quux ); // => 1.4142135623730951
console.log( lib.refreshContact() ); // => alerts `Hello ES6 Modules`

Another technique in a module, we could use the following:

const quatro = 10 * 10 * 10 * 10;
export { quatro };

default exports is simple one module that you want to export as the default ( like CommonJS ) and it turns out you can use default exports and named exports both in your module. There is alot more on modules in ES6 including script tags, using promises and module loading which is an API that allows you to programmatically work with modules and configure module loading.

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Getters and Setters

Getters and setters allow you to use standard property access notation for reads and writes. In ES6 there is a much cleaner way than using Object.defineProperty to do achieve this.

Getting and Setting helps you organize functionality associated with direct access

class Employee {
 
    constructor(name) {
        this._name = name;
    }
 
    get name() {
        return `Employees name is: ` + this._name.toUpperCase();
    }
 
    set name(newName){
        if(newName){ 
            this._name = newName;
        }
    }
}
 
let developer = new Employee("Sophia");
console.log(developer.name); // => Sophia
developer.name = "Dania";
console.log(developer.name); // => Dania

Classes

Classes are a welcome addition in ES6 however do not introduce a new OO model and rather are just syntactical sugar over JavaScript's existing prototype-based-inheritance model.

To declare a class simply use the class keyword
There are two ways to define a class by using either class declarations or class expressions
class declarations are not hoisted
class expressions can be named or unnamed
The constructor creates and initializes an object created with a class and their bodies are executed in strict mode
The extends keyword is used to create a class that is a child of another class
The static keyword is used to define a static method of a class

class Atom {
  constructor( name, mass, neutrons ) {
    this._name = name;
    this._mass = mass;
    this._neutrons = neutrons;
  }
  // using get 	
  get name() {
    return this._name;
  }
  
  get mass() {
    return this._mass;
  }

  get neutrons() {
    return this._neutrons;
  }

  toString() {
    return `${this.name}'s mass index is ${this.mass}, and is composed of ${this.neutrons} neutrons` ;
  }
}

const particle = new Atom('Mote', 100000, 1000);

console.log(particle.mass); 
console.log(particle.neutrons);
console.log(particle.toString());

There can only be one special method with the nameconstructor however you can have many prototype methods in your class

class Atom {
  constructor( mass, neutrons) {
    this.mass = mass;
    this.neutrons = neutrons;
  }
  
  // prototype method
  get printMass() {
    return this.calcMass();
  }

  calcMass() {
     return `Atom's mass is ${this.mass}`;
    
  }
  
  // prototype method
  get printSize() {
    return this.calcSize();
  }
  
  calcSize() {
    return `Atom's size is ${this.mass * this.neutrons}`;
  }
}

const square = new Atom(1000, 10);
console.log(square.printMass);
console.log(square.printSize);

Symbols

We now have a public interface to use symbols in ES6. A symbol is a unique and immutable primitive data type.

Their main purpose is interoperability and to avoid name clashes between properties - you can use symbols as identifiers when adding props to an object
Don't use the new operator when creating a symbol, just invoke the function
Symbols are unique, you cannot alter them ( which is the whole point )
Interestingly symbols used as keys to an object will not appear as part of the object when using a for in loop

Syntax for creating a symbol, Symbol or Symbol( description )`:

let sym1 = new Symbol(); // => throws an error

let sym2 = Symbol( "symbol description" ); // => you can add a optional description
let sym3 = Symbol( "symbol description" ); // => both `sym1` and `sym2` are unique

Using symbols as keys into an object, when you iterate with for in your symbol identifier will be hidden:

const phoneNo = Symbol();

const employee = {
  firstName: "Moe",
  lastName: "Khan",
  [ phoneNo ]: 555-555-5555
}  

for (const key in employee) {
  if (employee.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
    alert(key + " -> " + employee[key]);
  } // => key -> firstName: Moe, key -> lastName: Khan
}

Symbols can be useful for hiding information in an object, and there is a new object method named getOwnPropertySymbols that will help you reflect into symbol props:

const phoneNo = Symbol();
let symbol0 = Object.getOwnPropertySymbols(employee);

const employee = {
  firstName: "Moe",
  lastName: "Khan",
  [ phoneNo ]: 5555555555
}  

for (const key in employee) {
  if (employee.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
    alert(key + " -> " + employee[key]);
  }
  if (symbol0) {
    alert("Hidden symbol " + " -> " + employee[ phoneNo ]);
  }
}

Generators

Generators are an exciting new feature and can be used as iterators as well as drastically help us write asynchronous code

When you invoke a function it runs till completion before any other code can run because JS is always single threaded
Generator functions allow you to pause a functions execution in a synchronous manner and return the value of an expression
Inside the generator function body use the new yield keyword to pause the function intrinsically
Use the * symbol to denote a generator function

Take a rudimentary example:

function *myGenerator() {
  yield '1: First stab at generators';
  yield 2;
  yield '3: Use next() to start iterating';
  yield 4
  yield "5: Normal functions 'run to completion'";
}

let step = myGenerator();

console.log( step.next() ); // => { value: "1: First stab at generators", done: false }
console.log( step.next() ); // => { value: 2, done: false }
console.log( step.next() ); // => { value: "3: Use next() to start iterating", done: false }
console.log( step.next() ); // => { value: 4, done: false }
console.log( step.next() ); // => { value: "5: Normal functions 'run to completion'", done: false }
console.log( step.next() ); // => { value: undefined, done: true }

Furthering on our example and passing values into next('some value'); This might be a little confusing at first:

function *personFullName() {
    var fName = yield 'first name';
    var lName = yield 'second name';
    console.log(fName + lName);
}

var myGenerator = personFullName();

myGenerator.next(); //{ value: 'first name', done: 'false' }
myGenerator.next('Maya '); //{ value: 'second name', done: 'false' }
myGenerator.next('Bethea') // { value:'undefined', done: 'true' }

// => Maya Bethea

Arrow Functions

Arrow functions are one of the more popular features of ES6 saving developer time and simplifying function scope.

The arrow (=>) or fat arrow provides a shorthand for the function keyword with lexical this binding
Arrow functions change the way this binds in functions
They work much like lambdas in languages like C# or Python
- lambda expressions are are often passed as arguments to higher order functions
we avoid the function keyword, return keyword and curly brackets when using arrow functions
Arrow functions allow developers to remove boilerplate, however you shouldn't remain ignorant of how 'lexicalscopingthis` works
Be careful when using arrow functions as they aren't applicable everywhere, use cases will depend from situation to situation

For the sake of simplicity, we could do the following:

const msg = () => alert("Hello Arrow Function");
console.log(msg());

let square = ( a, b ) => a * b; 
console.log(square(5, 5)); // 25

let x = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10];
let z = x.map(x => x); 
console.log(z); // [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

Every new function defines it's own this value, yet arrow functions close over the this value

// in ES5
function Tree() {
  that = this;
  that.age = 0;
  
  setInterval(function growOld() {
    that.age++;
  }, 1000);  
}

var t = new Tree();

// in ES6
function Tree() {
  this.age = 0;
  
  setInterval(() => {
    this.age++;
     5000);
  }
}
     
var t = new Tree();

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Map and WeakMap

With the addition of new data structures that are new to ES6, Map has been sorely awaited by developers to map values to values - Objects have been used as maps historically

The Map object is a simple key/value map and is deemed an iterable
for...of loop returns an array of [key, value] for each iteration
While similar, there are certain distinctions between Objects and Maps and therefore are certain use-cases
Most importantly Map instances are only useful for collections and Objects used as records with fields and methods

At a fundamental level when working with maps you could do the following:

let map = new Map();    
map.set( 'min', Number.MIN_SAFE_INTEGER );
map.set( 'max', Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER );
map.has('baz'); // => false
map.size; 2
console.log( map ); // => Map { "min" => -9007199254740991, "max" => 9007199254740991 }
map.delete( 'max' );
console.log( map ); // => Map { "min" => -9007199254740991 }
map.clear()
map.size; // => 0

Another way to set a map via iterable `key-value "pairs". Notice that you can any value as the key:

let hash = new Map([
        [ 'age', 1 ],
        [ false, 'true' ],
        [ function () {}, 'function' ],
        [ {}, 'object' ], 
        [ 5, 'five' ],
        [ undefined, 'undefined'],
        [ null, 'null'],
  			[ Symbol(), 'Symbol']
    ]);

for ( let key of hash.keys()) {
  console.log( typeof key ); 
} // => string, boolean, function, object, number, undefined, object, symbol

Note: The for...of statement creates a loop iterating only over iterable objects' (Array, Map, Set, String, etc). You can also use the built in forEach` to iterate over map collection

Set and WeakSet

Promises

Promise objects help us with asynchronous programming, espercially deferring async operations. Think of functions that return their results asychronously ( heard of callback hell? ).

ES6 has adopted [PromiseA+](https://promisesaplus.com/) spec, but there are other libraries out there as such as RSVP, Bluebird, Q
This allows you to create handlers to asynchronous actions's eventual success or failure in a synchronous way
So, promises have a sense of state which is either fullfilled, pending, or rejected

An example of callback hell, also known as the pyramid of doom

asyncFn1(function(err, result) {  
  asyncFn2(function(err, result) {
    asyncFn3(function(err, result) {
      asyncFn4(function(err, result) {
       asyncFn5(function(err, result) {
         // Do something
       });
      });
    });
  });
});

Promises help flatten our structures, a most welcome struct:

asyncFn1(value1)
.then(asyncFn2)
.then(asyncFn3)
.then(asyncFn4)
.then(asycnFn5, value5 => {
    // Do something with value5
})
.catch(function (error) {
    // Handle any error from all above steps
})
.done();

An example of what a native promise looks like:

var p = new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {  
   if (/* condition */) {
      resolve(/* value */);  // fulfilled successfully
   }
   else {
      reject(/* reason */);  // error, rejected
   }
});

ES7

Proposals for the ES2017, ES7 specification can be found here: https://github.com/tc39/ecma262 - definitely check the spec when in doubt.

Some of the features will include:

Array.prototype.includes
myArr.includes(value) // nice!
Async and Generator functions
Exponential Operators

Please look at my es7 repository for more information on specific features

Contributions

Contributions in the form of code samples and syntax are welcome - if you spot errors in example code or feel you have a better use case for a given feature issue a pull request. Typos and formatting requests will also be considered.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 101 Commits
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README.md		README.md

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ES6

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ES6 Introduction

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Let and Const

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String and Template Literals

Math and Number

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Classes

Symbols

Generators

Arrow Functions

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Set and WeakSet

Promises

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Getters and Setters

Classes

Symbols

Generators

Arrow Functions

Map and WeakMap

Set and WeakSet

Promises

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