Node.js, the JavaScript runtime, has been updated. Node.js 17 includes support for OpenSSL 3 and APIs that have been reworked for Promises, along with updated platform support. 

Node.js is an open-source, cross-platform asynchronous event driven JavaScript runtime built on Chrome's JavaScript engine. It uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O mode and executes JavaScript code outside web browsers.

Node.js 17 now includes OpenSSL 3.0. One advantage of this is QUIC support. QUIC is the multiplexed transport built on top of UDP that was designed by Google and is turned on by default in Chrome. FIPS support is also now available via OpenSSL 3.0. Federal Information Processing Standards, FIPS, were developed by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology and set out document processing, encryption algorithms and other information technology processes for use in non-military US government agencies.

This release starts the process of Node.js providing promise-based core APIs. This is a strategic initiative by the developers, and this version has added promise-based APIs for the Readline module. The Readline module provides an interface for reading data from a readable stream one line at a time.

From this release onwards, stack traces now include the Node.js version at the end of the stack trace when there is a fatal exception that causes the process to exit. This is designed to make it easier to diagnose application errors.

The other change of note is that the V8 JavaScript engine has been updated to V8 9.5. This release comes with additional supported types for the displaynames API, and extended timeZoneName options in the DateTimeFormat API.

With the release of Node.js 17, Node.js 16 is now being promoted to long-term support. Node.js 17 is downloadable now.

• Ian Elliot is the author of several JavaScript titles. Just JavaScript: An Idiomatic Approach is intended for programmers who are familiar with another language while JavaScript Async covers asynchronous programming, including promises.  His most recent book, JavaScript Bitmap Graphics with Canvas, shows you how to use Canvas to create graphics without resorting to a library of any kind.
  

More Information

Node.js Foundation Homepage

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