GopherJS, a compiler enabling developers to use Google's trendy Go language for Web development, is getting something it has never had before: a version number.
With GopherJS, Go code is compiled to JavaScript for execution in browsers. The specific version number revealed this week is 1.7-1, and it requires the latest version of the Go language -- the recently released version 1.7.
"It's highly recommended to be using the latest version of Go and GopherJS, but if you cannot update from Go 1.6 right away, you should continue to use GopherJS on the go1.6 branch," GopherJS contributing developer Dmitri Shuralyov said.
The version number helps users be aware of updates, as many improvements have been done quietly. "Without a version number and release history, it's harder for newcomers or people waiting for a stable release to have insight on the readiness state of GopherJS," said Shuralyov.
GopherJS continues to support such Go features as goroutines, which enable concurrency among functions, but users are still ramping up their use of the technology. "Not everyone has a chance to actually use it to build projects because it's still quite new and unusual to write front end code in Go, but the project is about enabling that and helping making it possible and more commonplace."
As of Tuesday, GopherJS as of Tuesday had 4,125 stars on GitHub, translating to the number of people tracking the project on the code-sharing site.
Shuralyov describes GopherJS as "90- to 95-percent complete" with only minor issues remaining to be tackled. On tap are improvements to generated file size and refactors for added convenience of use. GopherJS can be tried out on the GopherJS playground.