Updated at: Jun 26, 2024
This page shows you what version of ECMAScript your browser supports.
ECMAScript is a general purpose programming language whose most popular implementation is known as JavaScript. Technically speaking, JavaScript could be considered a "dialect" of ECMAScript, although generally speaking the terms "ECMAScript" and "JavaScript" are almost always though of as being synonymous... if someone wants to know "what version of JavaScript you have"; they're really asking "what version of ECMAScript your browser supports". We know that this is a really simplistic explanation but we're trying to not get too complicated here!
The differences and distinctions between ECMAScript and JavaScript are too complicated to delve into here; however FreeCodeCamp.org has written a fantastic article which spells out the differences between JavaScript and ECMAScript in a way that's still really easy to understand.
Yes, absolutely! JavaScript (or more correctly ECMAScript) is a programming specification which is very much alive and in development. New features are always being added to it and a new major JavaScript version seems to be released once per year.
Most of the new features that continue to get added to JavaScript/ECMAScript are there to help developers write better, cleaner, and faster code. As a consumer you probably won't notice much difference between recent versions, however if a website is written using modern JavaScript and you don't have an up to date web browser, then some or all features may not work. (Read: Why should I update my web browser?.)
No, JavaScript isn't something that you can update specifically - it's not a seperate bit of software, plugin, or extension that needs to be maintained. The trick is to keep your web browser itself updated - this will ensure that the web browser you're using has the latest version of JavaScript/ECMAScript built in to it.
You can learn more and follow along with the development of the next version of ECMAScript at ECMA International.