---
title: "Babel 8 RC Arrives, Gatsby Lives, Lodash Resets"
publication: "JavaScript Weekly"
issue: 771
published_at: "2026-02-03"
canonical_url: "https://javascriptweekly.com/issues/771"
---

Plus GitHub considers letting you disable PRs, Svelte on the ESP32, and rendering some heat. |        

#​771 — February 3, 2026 

[Read on the Web](https://javascriptweekly.com/issues/771)  

Together with [![Meticulous\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/c_fill,g_auto,w_2600,h_373/e_make_transparent/co_white,e_outline:30/s65exulzcd60xe2r5nyk.png)](https://www.meticulous.ai?utm_source=jsweekly&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=26q1&utm_content=primary)   

JavaScript Weekly 

![](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/swj1smup7khnoanvzl5w.jpg)  

Four Heavyweights Drop Updates 

Four stalwarts of the JavaScript ecosystem all shipped notable releases this week, and odds are you're using at least one of them: 

- [Gatsby v5.16](https://www.gatsbyjs.com/docs/reference/release-notes/v5.16/) proves Gatsby, once considered neck-and-neck with Next.js in the React world, is [_not_ 'dead'.](https://github.com/gatsbyjs/gatsby/discussions/39062) The headline feature is React 19 support.
- [Babel 7 just shipped its final release.](https://babeljs.io/blog/2026/01/31/7.29.0) _"After years in the making, Babel 8 is finally ready,"_ in [release candidate form](https://github.com/babel/babel/releases/tag/v8.0.0-rc.1), at least.
- [Rspress 2.0](https://rspress.rs/blog/rspress-v2) is a major release for the high-performance Rust-powered, but JavaScript-facing, static site generator.
- [Lodash 4.17.23](https://socket.dev/blog/inside-lodash-security-reset) sounds minor, but it's a 'security reset' for the still heavily used [utility library](https://lodash.com/) and is designed to provide a base for a longer future.    [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/c_limit,w_480,h_480,q_auto/copm/051ad80c.png)](https://www.meticulous.ai?utm_source=jsweekly&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=26q1&utm_content=primary) 

[Only Fools Write Tests](https://www.meticulous.ai?utm_source=jsweekly&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=26q1&utm_content=primary) — Modern engineering teams like Notion, Dropbox, Wiz, and LaunchDarkly use Meticulous to maintain E2E UI tests that [cover every edge case](https://www.meticulous.ai?utm_source=jsweekly&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=26q1&utm_content=primary) of your web app. 

Meticulous sponsor    

🦀 [OpenClaw: The Runaway AI Assistant](https://openclaw.ai/) — An intense week for a new open source TypeScript project: [150k stars on GitHub](https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw), hordes buying Mac Minis to run it, _two_ rebrands (it was originally _Clawdbot_), and an ecosystem of projects the agents use autonomously (e.g. [an entire social network](https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jan/30/moltbook/)). Another example of TypeScript at the heart of the AI boom. 

Peter Steinberger   

**IN BRIEF:** 

- The popular [JSBin](https://jsbin.com/) collaborative JavaScript pastebin went down for a few days and Remy Sharp [shares the war story of what happened.](https://remysharp.com/2026/02/02/js-bin-down-in-2026)
- 🔒 [The OpenJS Foundation has shared an annual report](https://openjsf.org/blog/openjs-security-annual-report-2025) covering its efforts in securing the JS ecosystem.
- Angular is [changing components' default change detection strategy.](https://github.com/angular/angular/discussions/66779)
- Both [Astro](https://astro.build/blog/whats-new-january-2026/) and [Svelte](https://svelte.dev/blog/whats-new-in-svelte-february-2026) have shared monthly roundups of what's new.   

**RELEASES:** 

- [Node.js v25.6.0 (Current)](https://nodejs.org/en/blog/release/v25.6.0) – `async_hooks` can now skip `Promise` hooks to reduce overhead. Plus, URL parsing now supports Unicode 17.
- [jQuery UI 1.14.2](https://blog.jqueryui.com/2026/01/jquery-ui-1-14-2-released/) – The legacy UI library gets its first update in over a year and now works with jQuery 4.0.
- [Bun v1.3.8](https://bun.com/blog/bun-v1.3.8) – Say hello to native Markdown parsing.
- [Astro 5.17](https://astro.build/blog/astro-5170/), [ESLint 10.0.0-rc2](https://eslint.org/blog/2026/01/eslint-v10.0.0-rc.2-released/), [tRPC v11.9.0](https://github.com/trpc/trpc), [Lexical 0.40.0](https://github.com/facebook/lexical), [Reka UI 2.8](https://reka-ui.com/) (formerly Radix Vue)  

📖 Articles and Videos 

[![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/zgni4wwciv0tmiirmtyg.jpg)](https://thedailywtf.com/articles/a-percise-parser)  

⁉️ [How Not to Parse Numbers in JavaScript](https://thedailywtf.com/articles/a-percise-parser) — Why use a proper locale-aware API to parse numbers when you can hand-roll a maze of string splits, separator swaps, and implicit type coercions that silently break on edge cases? 

Remy Porter (The Daily WTF)   

📉 [Node.js 16 to 25 Benchmarked Version-by-Version](https://www.repoflow.io/blog/node-js-16-to-25-benchmarks-how-performance-evolved-over-time) — The jumps in performance in various areas are striking (with Node 25, especially), with other areas getting more modest gains. 

RepoFlow   

[A Practical Checklist for B2B Enterprise Readiness](https://hello.descope.com/b2b-enterprise-readiness-checklist?utm_source=cooperpress-newsletters&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=javascript-weekly-newsletter-02-2026&utm_content=enterprise-checklist) — Measure gaps in auth, admin UX, security, monitoring, and architecture for landing enterprise customers. [Download today!](https://hello.descope.com/b2b-enterprise-readiness-checklist?utm_source=cooperpress-newsletters&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=javascript-weekly-newsletter-02-2026&utm_content=enterprise-checklist) 

Descope sponsor   

[Explicit Resource Management in JavaScript](https://allthingssmitty.com/2026/02/02/explicit-resource-management-in-javascript/) — You can use `using` for deterministic cleanup, calling `Symbol.dispose`/`asyncDispose` at scope exit without `try`/`finally`. A small fix for leaks and forgotten teardowns in streams, observers, locks, and similar APIs. 

Matt Smith   

[The History of C# and TypeScript with Anders Hejlsberg](https://github.blog/developer-skills/programming-languages-and-frameworks/7-learnings-from-anders-hejlsberg-the-architect-behind-c-and-typescript/) — GitHub interviewed the creator of both C# and TypeScript about his career, why TypeScript was created in the first place, some internal Microsoft politics, as well as the ongoing Go port of the TypeScript compiler. There's a video of the full interview, as well as 'seven learnings' boiled down in written form. 

GitHub   

📄 [My Opinionated ESLint Setup for Vue Projects](https://alexop.dev/posts/opinionated-eslint-setup-vue-projects/) – Packed with examples to pick and choose from. Alexander Opalic 

📄 [A Scroll-Revealed WebGL Gallery with GSAP, Three.js, Astro and Barba.js](https://tympanus.net/codrops/2026/02/02/building-a-scroll-revealed-webgl-gallery-with-gsap-three-js-astro-and-barba-js/) – Striking visual image reveal effect with [a live demo.](https://pixelimageeffect.pages.dev/) Chakib Mazouni 

📄 [Predicting `Math.random()` in Firefox Using Z3 SMT-Solver](https://yurichev.com/blog/xorshift/) Dennis Yurichev 

🎤 [Securing npm is Table Stakes](https://changelog.com/podcast/674) Nicholas C. Zakas (Changelog Podcast) 

📄 [Building a Simple RSS Aggregator with Astro](https://www.raymondcamden.com/2026/02/02/building-an-rss-aggregator-with-astro) Raymond Camden  

🛠 Code & Tools 

[![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/m5tsifeulkmhzs7cllzp.jpg)](https://www.heatjs.com/)  

[Heat.js 5.0: A Flexible Heat Map Rendering Solution](https://www.heatjs.com/) — Generate customized interactive heatmaps (think GitHub contributions graph), or render heatmaps as [lines](https://www.heatjs.com/demos/views/line) and [bar charts](https://www.heatjs.com/demos/views/chart). The site is [packed with demos](https://www.heatjs.com/demos) to enjoy. [GitHub repo.](https://github.com/williamtroup/Heat.js) 

William Troup   

[Building an MCP Server? Don't Roll Your Own Auth](https://workos.com/mcp?utm_source=cpjavascript&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=q12026) — WorkOS AuthKit handles OAuth 2.1 flows so your MCP server just verifies tokens. Control which tools AI agents access. 

WorkOS sponsor   

🕒 [Croner 10.0: Cron-Style Triggers and Evaluation](https://croner.56k.guru/) — Trigger functions on any cron schedule using [cron syntax.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cron#CRON_expression) It can also evaluate cron expressions to give you a list of upcoming times. [v10.0](https://github.com/Hexagon/croner/releases/tag/10.0.0) brings full OCPS (Open Cron Pattern Specification) 1.4 compliance and even more scheduling options. 

Hexagon   

🗓️ [DayFlow: A Full Calendar Component for React](https://dayflow-js.github.io/calendar/) — A React-only feature-rich calendar component with drag-and-drop, multiple views, and all the usual GCal-style richness. Its infinite scrolling feature is nifty. [GitHub repo.](https://github.com/dayflow-js/calendar) 

DayFlow Contributors   

[Tsonic: A TypeScript to C# Transpiler](https://tsonic.org/) — The idea is for creating native executables that run on .NET. I’ve not tested it as I’m not in that ecosystem but it’s an interesting idea. 

Jeswin   

- 📄 [EmbedPDF 2.4](https://github.com/embedpdf/embed-pdf-viewer) – Framework-agnostic JavaScript PDF viewer. ([Demo.](https://app.embedpdf.com/))
- [JavaScriptKit v0.40](https://github.com/swiftwasm/JavaScriptKit) – Swift framework for interacting with JS via WASM.
- [StackBlur.js 3.0](https://github.com/flozz/StackBlur) – Long-standing Gaussian blur library; now using ESM.
- [Knip 5.83](https://knip.dev/) – Finds and fixes unused files, dependencies and exports.
- 📄 [jsPDF 4.1](https://github.com/parallax/jsPDF) – Generate PDFs directly in JavaScript. ([Demo.](https://raw.githack.com/MrRio/jsPDF/master/index.html))
- [qrcode.vue 3.8](https://github.com/scopewu/qrcode.vue) – Vue.js component to generate QR codes.
- [focus-trap 8.0](https://github.com/focus-trap/focus-trap) – Trap focus within a DOM node. ([Demo.](https://focus-trap.github.io/focus-trap/))  

📢 Elsewhere in the ecosystem  

Some other interesting tidbits in the broader landscape:  

[![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/mhyuenl5ei607bgdn0ly.jpg)](https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/185387)  

- [GitHub is exploring solutions to tackle low-quality contributions](https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/185387), which could include giving you the option to disable PRs entirely or at least restrict them to collaborators. Got opinions? Join the discussion.
- [How to throttle individual network requests](https://developer.chrome.com/blog/throttle-individual-network-requests) in Chrome, rather than at a global level. Ideal for testing what happens when your dependencies load very_slooooooowwwwwly...._
- 🤖 OpenAI has released [a desktop version of its agentic-coding _Codex_ app](https://openai.com/index/introducing-the-codex-app/). macOS only for now, though someone [used Codex to port itself to Linux..](https://x.com/robzolkos/status/2018412778965315965)😂
- ⚠️ If you're a Windows user using the popular [Notepad++](https://notepad-plus-plus.org/) editor, you might want to double check your install as the project [suffered a suspected state-sponsored hijack](https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/hijacked-incident-info-update/) in 2025.
- [svelteesp32](https://github.com/BCsabaEngine/svelteesp32) is a curious project for embedding Svelte, React, Angular or Vue frontends into ESP32 microcontroller apps.         

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