Temporal: The 9-year journey to fix time in JavaScript (bloomberg.github.io)

Article summary

The article discusses the 9-year journey to develop Temporal, a new JavaScript library for handling dates and times. Temporal aims to replace the existing Date object, which has been a pain point for developers due to its mutability and inconsistent behavior. The library provides a more robust and intuitive API for working with dates and times, including support for time zones and calendars. Temporal has been accepted as a standard by the TC39 committee and is expected to be implemented in major JavaScript runtimes.

Main themes

• Temporal JavaScript library
• Date and time handling
• Browser standards and implementation
• Safari and Chrome comparison
• Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)
• JavaScript ecosystem and innovation
• Standards and regulatory capture
• Cross-browser compatibility and issues
• Library development and adoption

What commenters say

• Some commenters are excited about the potential of Temporal to improve date and time handling in JavaScript.
• Others note that Safari's slow implementation of new features is holding back the web.
• There is disagreement about whether Chrome's rapid pace of innovation is moving the web forward or causing problems for other browsers.
• Some argue that Safari's problems are temporary, while others see them as a long-term issue.
• The discussion also touches on the importance of standards and the potential risks of regulatory capture by a single browser vendor.
• Some commenters mention the similarities between Temporal and other date and time libraries, such as Joda-Time in Java.
• Others discuss the challenges of implementing Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) and the need for better support from browsers.