GNOME's JavaScript Component Will Be Seeing More Improvements For 3.26

GJS -- the GNOME JavaScript system that allows for GObject introspection and other capabilities via JavaScript on the desktop -- is planning for further improvements with GNOME 3.26.

GJS in GNOME 3.24 brought an updated Mozilla SpiderMonkey build, support for Primises async operations, JS generators, and other improvements for these JavaScript bindings to GNOME.

For the GNOME 3.26 cycle that finishes up in September, they are planning to update their JavaScript engine again -- the plan is for SpiderMonkey 52, which also puts them closer to upstream Mozilla code. With the upgrade to SpiderMonkey 52 and also a unmerged SpiderMonkey 45 effort, there will now be proper support for JavaScript classes as well as ES7 async/await features. One of their last ES6 features to support is modules.

Other work this cycle includes improvements around the developer tools, settling on a proper debugger, and also JavaScript performance profiling within GNOME Builder. Documentation/tutorial improvements for GJS are also planned.

More details on GJS plans for GNOME 3.26 via this blog post by GJS developer Philip Chimento.