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About V18 (Hydrogen)
Node.js v18 (codename “Hydrogen”) is -according to the release calendar– now “Current” and will become the “Active” LTS version on Oct 25th.
What’s new?
The Fetch API
No more dependency on user-land packages like axios (or the deprecated request) for fetching resources. The experimental fetch()API introduced in v17.5.0 is now available by default. It comes from the best parts of undici and node-fetch and makes available some globals such as fetch, Request, Response and other browser-compatible classes.
Web Streams API
In an effort to gradually increase compatibility with browser APIs, the experimental Web Stream API added in v16.5.0 is now exposed on the global scope and no longer emits a runtime warning. It is an implementation of the WHATWG Streams Standard that emerged later than the Node.js Streams API and has become the “standard” for streaming data across many JavaScript environments. Hence, some classes like ReadableStream, TransformStream, WritableStream, CompressionStream, and many others are globally available.
The node:test test runner module
A long-awaited feature by the Node.js community, especially because of several issues with other famous test runners like jest. The node:test (mind the node: prefix) module facilitates the creation of JavaScript tests that report results in TAP format. More information about it can be found here.
Other cool stuff
Classes Blob and BroadcastChannel are now exposed on the global scope.
Users can build a Node.js binary with a custom V8 startup snapshot using the –node-snapshot-main flag of the configure script.
The V8 engine is updated to version 10.1, bringing along some new features.
Toolchain and compiler got upgrades.
Check out here the support for the different operating systems, platforms, and toolchains. (32-bit Windows users, here be dragons).
Need a helping hand?
For detailed information on installing and using N|Solid, please refer to the N|Solid User Guide.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].
To get the best out of Node.js, try [N|Solid SaaS] now!, an augmented version of the Node.js runtime, enhanced to deliver low-impact performance insights and greater security for mission-critical Node.js applications. #KnowYourNode
Sources:
NodeSource distributions
Node v18.0.0
v18 Release Announce
Node 18 Prefix Only Modules