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Features Timeline

Which major new features did we introduce in each Babel version? This page includes a very short summary for each minor release, or you can read the full changelog on GitHub! Additionally, use this timeline to track some other important efforts, such as the babel-polyfills project.

1. Babel 7.13.0

   blog post

   • Top-level targets option (RFC)
   • Granular compiler assumptions (docs, RFC)
   • Support for the Records and Tuples proposals

     let rec = #{ x: 1 };
     let tup = #[1, 2, 3];
     

   • TypeScript 4.2 support

2. Babel 7.12.0

   blog post

   • Support for the class static blocks proposal

     class A {
       static { initialize(A); }
     }
     

   • Support for imports and exports string names

     let happy = "wooo!";
     export { happy as "😃" };
     

   • Parser support for the Import Assertions proposal

     import json from "./foo.json" assert { type: "json" };
     

   • TypeScript 4.1 support

3. Babel 7.11.0

   blog post

   • Enable the Logical Assignment and Numeric Separator Stage 4 proposals by default
   • Parser support for the Decimal proposal

     console.assert(0.1m + 0.2m === 0.3m);
     

   • TypeScript 4.0 support

4. @babel/eslint-parser

   blog post

5. Babel 7.10.0

   blog post

   • Enable parser support for the import.meta Stage 4 proposal by default
   • Support for the Ergonomic brand checks for Private Fields proposal

     class Car {
       #plate;
       race(other) {
          if (#plate in other) console.log("Racing against another car!");
       }
     }
     

6. babel-polyfills

   repository

7. Babel 7.9.0

   blog post

   • bugfixes option in @babel/preset-env, to workaround browsers bugs rather than compiling whole Features
   • TypeScript 3.8 support
   • Support for Flow declare class fields
   • Support for the automatic JSX runtime

8. Babel 7.8.0

   blog post

   • Enable the Optional Chaining and the Nullish Coalescing Stage 4 proposals by default
   • Support .mjs configuration files

9. Babel 7.7.0

   blog post

   • Parser support for the top-level await proposal

     import db from "./database.js";
     
     await db.connect();
     

   • Add error recovery support for Early Errors in @babel/parser
   • Support .json and .cjs configuration files
   • TypeScript 3.7 support

10. Babel 7.6.0

    blog post

    • Support for static private accessors, part of the static class features proposal

      class Dog {
        static get #className() { return "Dog"; }
      }
      

11. Babel 7.5.0

    blog post

    • Support for the F# pipeline operator proposal

      num |> add(2) |> double
      

    • TypeScript namespace support

12. Babel 7.4.0

    blog post

    • Support for injecting core-js@3 polyfills
    • Support for the Partial Application proposal

      strings.map(parseInt(?));
      

    • Support for static private methods, part of the static class features proposal

      class Dog {
        static #register() { /* ... */ }
      }
      

    • TypeScript 3.4 support

13. Babel 7.3.0

    blog post

    • Support for instance private accessors, part of the private methods proposal

      class Dog {
        get #randomId() { return Math.random(); }
      }
      

    • Support for the smart pipeline operator proposal

      num |> add(2, #) |> double
      

    • Support for named capturing groups in regular expressions

      str.match({String.raw`/^(?<year>\d{4})-(?<month>\d{2})-(?<day>\d{2})$/`})
      

    • TypeScript 3.2 and 2.9 support

14. Babel 7.2.0

    blog post

    • Support for instance private methods, part of the private methods proposal

      class Dog {
        #bark() { console.log("Mew!") }
      }
      

15. Babel 7.1.0

    blog post

    • Support for the decorators proposal, as it was specified in September 2018

      class Person {
        @autoIncrement age;
      }
      

    • Support for static private fields, part of the static class features proposal

      class Person {
        static #classId = 3;
      }
      

16. Babel 7

    blog post

    This has a lot more changes since it was 2 years of pre-releases.

    • Drop support for un-maintained Node versions: 0.10, 0.12, 4, 5
    • Switch to scoped packages (babel-core to @babel/core)
    • Remove yearly presets (@babel/preset-es2015) and Stage presets (@babel/preset-stage-0) (blog post).
    • Added "pure" (/*#__PURE__*/ ) annotation support in certain cases. (Implemented later as @babel/helper-annotate-as-pure
    • Add project-wide babel.config.js config file (docs) and overrides config option.
    • Added "useBuiltIns: "usage" to @babel/preset-env
    • Support TypeScript via @babel/preset-typescript
    • Support JSX Fragments <></>
    • Support a ton of TC39 proposals:
      • Unicode Property Regex
      • JSON Superset
      • new.target
      • Class Private Instance Fields (class A { #b = 2 })
      • Optional Catch Binding try { throw 0 } catch { do() }
      • BigInt (syntax only)
      • import.meta (syntax only) (import.meta.url)
      • Numeric Separators (1_000)
      • function.sent
      • Optional Chaining (a?.b)
      • Logical Assignment Operators (a &&= b; a ||= b)
      • Nullish Coalescing Operator (a ?? b)
      • Pipeline Operator (a |> b)
      • Throw Expressions (() => throw new Error("a"))