HACKER Q&A
📣 toyko

Can I still use ES5. in 2019


i prefer es5 and understand it inside out. while i get es6, i don't like that the meaning of "this" has changed within => functions. i understand how to scope and am comfortable using var instead of let and const. if i'm the sole or lead dev on a project, would it be irresponsible to my clients to continue to code in es5?

  👤 sushid Accepted Answer ✓
I personally think it’s irresponsible. It’s essentially the software engineering equivalent of a surgeon not using a new/better surgery technique because it’s different and not what they’re familiar with.

Sure, it’s not life or death but your clients are definitely worse off than if you’d just taken the time to learn ES6.

Not knowing ES6 also just makes your life harder if you adopt other new JS advancements. For instance, it’s harder to look at the docs and examples for React and it’s related libraries. It’s harder for you to adopt Flow or TS.

Lastly, it should be especially easy for you to pick up ES6 if you know ES5 inside out.

👤 clintonb
Using ES5 is not irresponsible, but your justification comes across as petty. If you had claimed your workflows and toolchains all rely on ES5, and you don’t/can’t invest in changing now, I would understand.

Syntax? Get over it! Languages evolve. Syntax evolves. Refusing to update with the times ultimately hurts you more than your clients, as it dulls your skill set.

👤 onfe
Whilst you may not yet be as comfortable with ES6 as you are with ES5, the changes shouldn't be too hard to grasp.

As a developer it's important to stay up-to-date. Sometimes this isn't possible due to slow to update libs or technical restrictions, but to solely write ES5 due to preference is avoiding a small amount of learning for convenience.

👤 olingern
There are many constructs in ES6+ that make codebases more manageable. I make heavy use of destructuring, async/await, and template literals amongst many other features.

So, I would lean in the direction of it being irresponsible due to code being less easy to grok and harder to bring new people into the codebase.

👤 jimws
You should prefix your post title with "Ask HN: ". This way we would know that a question is being asked and it will get the attention of those who want to answer.