Preface

Writing this book was extremely fun and proved to be a helpful exercise. Researching and describing each topic was a process that lasted about two and a half years. When Simon (@simonstl) and Mike (@mikeloukides) approached me about the idea, I wasn’t sure that I would be able to deliver what they were asking for. Their vision was to explain ECMAScript 6 in a way that non-developers would understand it. Additionally, they wanted to help everyone understand the importance of adopting the new syntax into their current projects, as opposed to waiting years for certain parts of the Web to catch up. Much like steering a donkey with a carrot on a stick, Simon and Mike helped steer my efforts. Without them, much of what was written wouldn’t be. I appreciate all of their mentoring and guidance.

Once I finally understood the direction in which we needed to go, I simply needed time. A special thanks goes to my wonderfully understanding wife (Sarai) and to my four children (Naomi, Joceline, Ryan, and Owen). Family life is already a lot of work. Having a husband/dad that is busy writing a book only adds to it. Each of them helped me race to get this finished in time for FluentConf 2015. Thank you.

Everyone made a very serious effort to disguise how sleep deprived I was when finishing this. A special thanks to the inventors/makers/distributors of Diet Mountain Dew and Mio Energy Drops. While the ideas are my own, many of the words used to spell out my ideas were heavily fueled by caffeine from these sources.

To my friends and colleagues who helped out, you know who you are, thank you! Chad “the knife” (@chadmaughan) and Tom (@tvalletta), thank you for mentoring me and helping my solidify some of the ideas expressed here. Mom (@marlli53), Neal (@NealMidgley), Steveo (@steveolyo), Ted “the head” (@jsbalrog), and Tayler (@taylersumms). These are my people who read the pages when they were fresh off the press. Each of them took part in ensuring the quality of the text.

And a very special thanks to each of the members of the TC39. This book is only possible because of their efforts. While the JavaScript community eagerly await the ES6 updates, the members of the TC39 remain focused as they continue their daily effort of solidifying the ES6 specification. I feel lucky that I have been able to work directly with a handful of them. While I want to thank each of them, the following are the members who have directly had a hand in helping my efforts: Dave Herman (@littlecalculist), Allen Wirfs-Brock (@awbjs), Brendan Eich (@BrendanEich), Rafael Weinstein (@rzweinstein), Rick Waldron (@rwaldron), and Alex Russell (@slightlylate). Note to whomever is running the @FakeAlexRussell account: you’re brilliant!