
Ask HN: Can I still use ES5. in 2019 - toyko
i prefer es5 and understand it inside out. while i get es6, i don&#x27;t like that the meaning of &quot;this&quot; has changed within =&gt; functions.  i understand how to scope and am comfortable using var instead of let and const.  if i&#x27;m the sole or lead dev on a project, would it be irresponsible to my clients to continue to code in es5?
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sushid
I personally think it’s irresponsible. It’s essentially the software
engineering equivalent of a surgeon not using a new/better surgery technique
because it’s different and not what they’re familiar with.

Sure, it’s not life or death but your clients are definitely worse off than if
you’d just taken the time to learn ES6.

Not knowing ES6 also just makes your life harder if you adopt other new JS
advancements. For instance, it’s harder to look at the docs and examples for
React and it’s related libraries. It’s harder for you to adopt Flow or TS.

Lastly, it should be especially easy for you to pick up ES6 if you know ES5
inside out.

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clintonb
Using ES5 is not irresponsible, but your justification comes across as petty.
If you had claimed your workflows and toolchains all rely on ES5, and you
don’t/can’t invest in changing now, I would understand.

Syntax? Get over it! Languages evolve. Syntax evolves. Refusing to update with
the times ultimately hurts you more than your clients, as it dulls your skill
set.

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onfe
Whilst you may not yet be as comfortable with ES6 as you are with ES5, the
changes shouldn't be too hard to grasp.

As a developer it's important to stay up-to-date. Sometimes this isn't
possible due to slow to update libs or technical restrictions, but to solely
write ES5 due to preference is avoiding a small amount of learning for
convenience.

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olingern
There are many constructs in ES6+ that make codebases more manageable. I make
heavy use of destructuring, async/await, and template literals amongst many
other features.

So, I would lean in the direction of it being irresponsible due to code being
less easy to grok and harder to bring new people into the codebase.

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jimws
You should prefix your post title with "Ask HN: ". This way we would know that
a question is being asked and it will get the attention of those who want to
answer.

