P: [PS Scripting] ExtendScript support for ECMAScript 6th version

[Davide_Barranca]

ExtendScript as it's implemented in Photoshop Scripting engine is compliant to:

- ECMA-262 (version 3)
- EX4 (EcmaScript for XML)

plus other custom stuff like Filesystem management, Reflection interface, operator overloading, etc.
It's a great language, but... the rest of the Javascript world has moved to ECMA-262 version 6 aka ES6 Harmony, while so to speak we're stuck at ES3.

We don't have native support (among the rest) of JSON, Array.indexOf, Promises, Object.create, etc...

It's becoming increasingly difficult to interface with JS libraries, since shims are not always available/functional.

Also, strategically, we're in a cul-de-sac (aka dead end): there hasn't ever been a major language update (besides ScriptUI changes to support different rendering engines over the years), the PS Scripting language cannot not-evolve now that JS seems to have gained a great momentum and it's as lively as it's never been in the past.

My feature request is not to substitute ExtendScript with JS tout-court (since it would mean give up to EX4 and proprietary stuff), but to incorporate the new ES6 syntax and features - give ExtendScript a place in the future.

Thank you very much,

Davide Barranca
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[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I completely agree with Davide. Please add support for this!

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

ES6 would be super useful in PS for us script/extension writers. Please help us make your product better for the users!

[Alexander Walter]

Unfortunately I don't have the faintest idea what this is all about since I stopped programming a decade ago. But I know Davide and everything he does is truly reasonable.

[Davide_Barranca]

🙂 Thank you, from now on I'll ask my wife to call me Davide "reasonable" Barranca!

[cromaline]

+1

[Davide_Barranca]

My mistake, I should have written 'E4X' (ECMA357) - thanks to @indiscripts for reporting!

[Pedro Cortez Marques]

I do need this for our workflow optimization!

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Davide' extensions are critical for mine, and my clients, workflows, I'd love for him to have the widest toolset possible for his work, thanks Davide.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Thumbs up, it's very frustrating having to "cut back" on what you know and like is the best way to code JS because it'll not work with ESTK. We have regularly updated Chrome in panels and modern Node.js in Generator, but ESTK is holding all those back.

[Sergey Kritskiy]

Totally agree! I want .forEach() and .map()!

[Max Johnson - PlayStudios]

Having to play the "is this basic native function supported or not" game is not a fun one. Having to write and/or include my own versions of things like Array.firstIndexOf() is frustrating.

[Guest]

I support this request! 
An update with ECMAScript 6 features would allow to code cleaner, better, faster, stronger.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Voted! Beside this the ToolVM javaScript engine is extremely slow compared to PanelVM's.

[JavierAroche]

+1

ExtendScript needs some love! Otherwise a lot of our work will become useless very soon.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Yes please... Also have a look at https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/open-source-extendscript-toolkit-estk

[PECourtejoie]

Given that UXP is not using s the V8 JavaScript engine which supports ES6, this thread should be tagged as implemented, no?

[annnddr]

OMG, please. Working around with old ECMA is so exausting.

[PECourtejoie]

@Kerri Shotts ?

[Kerri Shotts]

While it's true that UXP is built on V8 and has a far more up-to-date JavaScript engine than ExtendScript (We're well past only "ES6" these days), it would be disingenuous to say that UXP _implements_ this request, since modern JavaScript also _omits_ E4X and other ExtendScript features as listed in the original request. That is to say, UXP is not a drop-in replacement for ExtendScript, and can't be used as such. Any ExtendScript scripts have to be rewritten to work in UXP, and that can be challenging depending on the feature set of ExtendScript that one used.

Given this, the realistic response is as follows:

• There are no plans to update ExtendScript to support modern JavaScript. ExtendScript will stay at ES3 levels for as long as it is available in a product.
• Some developers have had success in transpiling from ES5+ to ES3 and having that work in ExtendScript. This is not ideal, but may meet your particular needs. Note that any E4X will get in the way of these transpilers, since they don't understand that syntax.
• If you want modern JavaScript, UXP is there for you to use. However, the Photoshop API is still being built out, and so you may face some challenges in figuring out how to do certain things. Furthermore, you'll lose the ExtendScript features such as E4X, operator overloading, etc.

Given that, I'd close this as "not doing", w/ UXP or transpiling as the suggested workaround. That way we don't set expectations improperly for those not following along w/ UXP closely.

[PECourtejoie]

Thank you very much for this complete explanation, Kerri ! Way over my head, but I'm sure scripters will understand !

[Kukurykus]

I didn't know she has this forum account. How did you know it - there was no any post of her?

[PECourtejoie]

I guessed, and it worked... I could not remember quickly Erin's handle, so I tried hers.