JS has evolved through the years, and the version we'll be using is (informally) called JS8, and (formally) ECMAScript 2017, usually shortened to ES2017 or ES8; this version was finalized in June 2017. The previous versions were:
- ECMAScript 1, June 1997
- ECMAScript 2, June 1998, basically the same as the previous version
- ECMAScript 3, December 1999, with several new functionalities
- ECMAScript 5 appeared only in December 2009 (and no, there never was an ECMAScript 4, because it was abandoned)
- ECMAScript 5.1 was out in June 2011
- ECMAScript 6 (or ES6; later renamed ES2015) in June 2015
- ECMAScript 7 (also ES7, or ES2016) was finalized in June 2016
- ECMAScript 8 (ES8 or ES2017) was finalized in June 2017
ECMA originally ...