ECMA International-Who Are They and What Is ECMAScript?
As a web developer it is vital to know about ECMA and the standardized specifications they have developed. Not to be confused with the skin disease eczema, ECMA stands for the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA). ECMA’s purpose is to develop technical reports and standards for information communication technology and consumer electronics.
In 1997 ECMA created ECMA-262. ECMA-262, also known as ECMAScript, was published by ECMA to provide rules, details and guidelines for a general purpose scripting language. This would be used in browsers, servers and embedded technologies. If a scripting language does not follow these guidelines it is not considered ECMA compliant.
You may have heard of ES6, a huge step forward for JavaScript which introduced classes, template strings, let and const variables and so much more.
Did you know that the ES in ES6 stood for ECMAScript?
JavaScript conforms to ECMA-262
How does JavaScript fit into all this? Well JavaScript is an implementation of ECMA-262. JavaScript conforms to the specifications set by ECMA International, and annual releases of ECMA standards push JavaScript forward.
Each scripting engine (SpiderMonkey, V8 and JavaScriptCore) will implement aspects of the specifications over time, becoming more and more compliant.
Testing Conformance
To test conformance, ECMA International developed a standards test in 2010 called Test262. The conformance test suite is a great tool to check how compliant the JavaScript implementation is against the ECMA-262 specifications.
We can thank the ECMA Technical Committee 39, also known as TC39 for Test262. The framework and individual tests are made by member organizations of TC39.
The Language Specification documentation from TC39 detail that a truly conforming implementation of ECMA-262 “must provide and support all the types, values, objects, properties, functions and program syntax and semantics described in this specification.”
As of today, the Ecma Standard defines the ECMAScript 2023 language. This is the 14th edition.
The General Assembly
ECMA International has a membership process which requires organizations to apply and pay an annual fee (unless your organization is a Non-profit-making organization). There are different levels of membership which each have their own perks.
If we look through the list of Ordinary Members (the highest paying members in the assembly), it is easy to recognize some of the largest tech companies are represented.
Each of these companies have a representative at the General Assembly where they have the highest authority within the association. The diagram of the associations structure shows the General Assembly at the top, Management, Secretariat, and Executive Committee in the center row, and the Technical Committees and Task Groups at the bottom.
The Executive Committee makes recommendations to the General Assembly, and the people on the committee are elected each year by the General Assembly. The Executive Committee consists of 6 people. 4 from the ordinary members, and 2 from non-ordinary members.
How Can I Participate?
Many organizations can participate in the association, however it will cost an annual fee and there are requirements to entry. If you or your organization are interested in joining the association you can fill out an application here.
If you’re an independent developer like myself, the best way to learn about ECMA-262 and the new standards released each year is to read over the Language Specification Doc.