Jquery: Version 3.4.0 Expected Release Time
3 months ago at https://github.com/jquery/jquery/issues/3886#issuecomment-431859370 it was said that version 3.4.0 will be released in the coming weeks but it seems that not only that it wasn't released but also there are many open tickets for 3.4.0 https://github.com/jquery/jquery/milestone/18
For companies using jquery in production its important to know what is planned for jquery and when can we expect 3.4.0. It can influence our decision making on choosing a framework moving forward.
It was also spoken here: https://github.com/jquery/jquery/issues/3886#issuecomment-350880747 that the decision was made to make 2 releases a year but in 2018 there was only one single release.
Can we please have some more transparency on what's going on with jquery?
Thanks
guylando
All 5 comments
The jQuery project doesn't have employees but unpaid volunteers. Therefore, it's impossible to set up any schedule to which we could oblige to adhere. It all depends on when we have time & energy to proceed.
If you care about the frequency of releases, feel free to help via triaging issues, submitting PRs for open ones etc.
That said, looking at the milestone doesn't show the full picture; most of what's still open will most likely be deferred to jQuery 4.0. We're only waiting for closing all the blockers. Both of them have a PR open to fix them, it just needs to pass the review process.
mgol
on 27 Jan 2019
For companies using jquery in production its important to know what is planned for jquery and when can we expect 3.4.0.
In general that's not true. Most sites haven't even made it to the 3.x version of jQuery yet. As far as the API goes it's pretty much complete, so the main reason to upgrade is to fix bugs or security issues that are actually being encountered in a particular site or app. This isn't unique to jQuery; I've been working on a React app that is still on version 15 even though 16 was released in September 2017.
the decision was made to make 2 releases a year but in 2018 there was only one single release.
If there had been a reason to make more releases we could have made more releases. Many of the remaining "nice to have" bug fixes require tough tradeoffs, like adding a lot of bytes to the library to solve an obscure problem. There are nearly always workarounds for them already so they're not critical to fix.
Future releases may be more likely to remove functionality to improve performance, security and file size than they are to add functionality, yet breaking changes always slow adoption. With jQuery being used by so many sites, even the changes we don't think will break things often break things. Lots of small releases are disruptive in that kind of situation.
Can we please have some more transparency on what's going on with jquery?
All the tickets and meeting notes are online so there's already transparency. As @mgol said, we're volunteering to do this work so it's not as if we can set tight schedules for the work. If there is a ticket that is critical for your application, we welcome pull requests.
dmethvin
on 27 Jan 2019
@dmethvin regarding "As far as the API goes it's pretty much complete, so the main reason to upgrade is to fix bugs or security issues that are actually being encountered in a particular site or app"
so it means jquery will not evolve anymore? because other frameworks like react, angular and vue keep adding new features and improving existing features even if the previous ones are complete.
I am trying to understand if using jquery in a startup is an anti-practice because jquery will not get the hottest latest things.
Also I am pretty sure that all the arguments people say against jquery could be solved if there would be a plan to solve them.
Wasn't aware of https://meetings.jquery.org/category/core/ thanks for pointing that link out
guylando
on 27 Jan 2019
it means jquery will not evolve anymore?
jQuery defines an extension "plugin" mechanism that allows anyone to add methods. That eliminates our team as a bottleneck. The core team doesn't need to write all the code on people's websites that uses jQuery. We have guidelines on adding new features to core and very few proposed features need any of those.
About 80 percent of the top million web sites use jQuery. Every time I think it may have peaked the number goes up again. We have to weigh new features against millions of sites that have been built without that feature and for which it would just be wasted bytes. It's even more difficult to justify changes to existing behavior since that could break millions of sites. So plugins are by far the best way to evolve jQuery.
Also I am pretty sure that all the arguments people say against jquery could be solved if there would be a plan to solve them.
jQuery is a library to manipulate the DOM, not a framework. If the argument is that it is difficult to build and maintain a complex app with jQuery alone, I agree. That it not what it was built to do. Frameworks like Ember and Angular build their own work on top of jQuery or a jQuery-like DOM manipulation API. React has its own DOM manipulation code. Use frameworks when you need them, I do.
Meanwhile, keep in mind that if you are building a web site (e.g. light pages, often based on a server CMS, very little client state, emphasizing content) and not a web app, the extra weight and complexity of a framework may not be worthwhile.
dmethvin
on 28 Jan 2019
As for the features, in accordance with the guidelines @dmethvin linked to, we have added some features recently:
- jQuery 3.2.0 added support for CSS Custom Properties (a.k.a. CSS Variables) in
.css()as well as support for<template>elements in.contents() - jQuery 3.3.0 added support for
.addClass()and friends accepting an array of classes instead of a space-separated string
It's not a lot but we also don't aim to add a lot but rather to integrate better with the underlying Web Platform.
Wasn't aware of meetings.jquery.org/category/core thanks for pointing that link out
Also, if you're interested in the actual conversations in addition to the meetings agenda/summary, you can look into Gitter archives of the jquery/meeting channel where we meet usually once a week: https://gitter.im/jquery/meeting/archives
We should perhaps document this link somewhere. Suggestions welcome.
mgol
on 28 Jan 2019
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Most helpful comment
jQuery defines an extension "plugin" mechanism that allows anyone to add methods. That eliminates our team as a bottleneck. The core team doesn't need to write all the code on people's websites that uses jQuery. We have guidelines on adding new features to core and very few proposed features need any of those.
About 80 percent of the top million web sites use jQuery. Every time I think it may have peaked the number goes up again. We have to weigh new features against millions of sites that have been built without that feature and for which it would just be wasted bytes. It's even more difficult to justify changes to existing behavior since that could break millions of sites. So plugins are by far the best way to evolve jQuery.
jQuery is a library to manipulate the DOM, not a framework. If the argument is that it is difficult to build and maintain a complex app with jQuery alone, I agree. That it not what it was built to do. Frameworks like Ember and Angular build their own work on top of jQuery or a jQuery-like DOM manipulation API. React has its own DOM manipulation code. Use frameworks when you need them, I do.
Meanwhile, keep in mind that if you are building a web site (e.g. light pages, often based on a server CMS, very little client state, emphasizing content) and not a web app, the extra weight and complexity of a framework may not be worthwhile.