Node.js 10.x has become the latest long term support (LTS) release, and Node.js 11 has moved into its place as the current release line for the next six months.

Node.js is an asynchronous event driven JavaScript runtime built on Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine. It uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model. Long Term Support release lines of Node.js focus on stability, extended support and provide a reliable platform for applications of any scale. They generally receive 30 months of support once they become LTS

The 10.x release is mainly aimed at improvements in performance and, in initial tests, operations per second are almost twice as high as in Node.js 6, Latency has decreased by 65 percent compared to Node.js 6, and the footprint after load is 35 percent lower in Node.js 10 compared to Node.js 6 for increased cold start performance.

Node.js 10 is the first to use OpenSSL version 1.1.0, and the first to come with Google V8 v6.6 JavaScript engine. The use of Open SSL means Node.js now supports the ChaCha20 cipher and Poly1305 authenticator for cryptographic use.

Alongside the better performance, Node.js 10 also has better error handling, and improved diagnostics around trace events and post mortem. The Node.js 10 line also has Node.js API as a usable stable module API. It is independent from changes in V8 allowing modules to run against newer versions of Node.js without recompilation. N-API aims to solve two problems, firstly reducing the maintenance cost for native modules and reducing friction in upgrading Node.js versions in production deployments for module consumers.

The Node.js 11 release line is also now available for testing. The developers are concentrating on improving internals, performance, and an update to V8 7.0.  In the initial release of Node.js 11, interval timers have been improved so that they will be rescheduled even if the previous interval threw an error; and the build no longer supports FreeBSD 10.

More Information

Node.js Website

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