Master JavaScript date and time: From Moment.js to Temporal
Blog post from LogRocket
JavaScript's Date API, known for its historical design flaws such as unreliable parsing behavior and weak time zone support, has led developers to rely on external libraries like Moment.js for better date and time manipulation. However, Moment.js has been deprecated due to its mutable nature and heavy bundle size. In response, the Temporal API, currently a stage 3 proposal, offers a modern solution with features like immutability, nanosecond precision, and comprehensive time zone management, all designed to resolve the limitations of the Date API. Temporal introduces new date types and methods for handling complex date and time operations, including time zones, daylight saving time, and non-Gregorian calendars, while improving performance by being a native part of JavaScript. The API's immutability ensures predictable calculations and minimizes unexpected side effects, making it a promising replacement for libraries like Moment.js and date-fns. As a native solution, Temporal is more efficient and doesn’t increase bundle size, positioning it as a future-proof choice for developers looking to maintain modern and scalable codebases.