Node.js 17 fed by promising APIs and OpenSSL 3.0

Switched to a stable version, Node.js 17 is available for download. This latest iteration of the JavaScript runtime offers innovations and responds to community requests. Among these is the provision of APIs based on promises defined as an object used to perform asynchronous processing. Node.js 17 therefore adds API-based promises to the Readline module, which provides an interface to read data from a Readable stream, such as process.stdline capable of reading one line at a time.

On the security side, the latest version of Node.js supports OpenSSL 3.0, unveiled last month, and including a new FIPS (Federal Information Processing) module. It should be noted that the OpenSSL 3.0 APIs should be compatible with those of OpenSSL 1.1.1 and the developers of Node.js foresee an impact on the ecosystem due to the stricter restrictions on the algorithms used and the size of the keys.

Thoughts on the future of Node.js

Also, from Node.js, the stack trace will now include the runtime version on a fatal exception, which causes the process to exit. Google JavaScript V8 9.5 engine support is supported with tweaks and performance improvements and additional types supported for the Intl.DisplayNames API.

Note that Node.js 17 replaces Node.js 16 as the “current” version, with 16 due to be promoted to Long Term Support (LTS) status in the coming days. New versions of Node.js 17 are expected every two weeks or so. Node.js 16 will be supported until April 30, 2024. Finally, the developers of the Node.js project continue to work on the Next 10 effort, which is intended to reflect on the first 10 years of Node.js and define guidelines for the next 10 years. Initial efforts focused on defining and documenting technical values ​​and priorities.