release v0.19

Author: jasonwilliams

blog/2024-07-09-boa-release-19.md

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+<!-- ---
+layout: post
+tags: [post]
+title: "Boa release v0.19"
+author: Boa Developers
+--- -->
+
+## Summary
+
+Boa v0.19 is now available! After 4 months of development we are very happy to present you the latest
+release of the Boa JavaScript engine. Boa makes it easy to embed a JS engine in your projects, and
+you can even use it from WebAssembly. See the [about](/about) page for more info.
+
+In this release, our conformance has grown from 85.03% to 86.20% in the official ECMAScript Test Suite
+(Test262). Interestingly, this isn't due to us passing more tests, but in fact the total number of tests from test262
+[reducing by around 2000](https://github.com/tc39/test262/commit/ea2268aa4382013f5533b91f9ef50366ad065a86) from the [removal of custom calendars and timezones](https://github.com/tc39/proposal-temporal/issues/2826). Overall, Boa's conformance in real terms has improved by ~6%.
+
+You can check the full list of changes [here][changelog], and the full information on conformance
+[here][conformance].
+
+## Highlights
+
+### Temporal
+
+Boa is continuing to progress on the [Temporal](https://github.com/tc39/proposal-temporal). The Temporal API is a new
+set of built-in objects and functions that is designed to be a more modern replacement for the `Date`
+object, providing a more feature-rich and flexible API for working with dates and times.
+
+It is currently a [stage 3 proposal](https://tc39.es/proposal-temporal/docs/) and we are working
+alongside the TC39 champions to put together a solid Rust implementation. Since Temporal is such an
+extensive specification, we have done most of the work outside of Boa so that it can be used in other
+projects. This work can be found in the [temporal_rs](https://github.com/boa-dev/temporal/) repository.
+
+We hope to release a full blog post on Temporal in the future, but for now you can see the previous release notes for some examples on how to use it.
+You can also look at the [Temporal Cook Book](https://tc39.es/proposal-temporal/docs/cookbook.html) for some examples too!
+
+If you're interested in learning more or want to contribute to the native Rust implementation of
+Temporal, feel free to check out `temporal_rs`'s [issues](https://github.com/boa-dev/temporal/issues)!
+
+Boa's conformance on the Temporal test suite has grown from 23.99% to 27.86% in this release.
+
+### New Benchmark Suite, Faster CI and reduced repo size
+
+Boa has had an overhaul of its older criterion benchmark suite to a new [end to end benchmark suite](https://boajs.dev/benchmarks).
+We had finally outgrown the old benchmark suite and needed a new one that could handle the new features and improvements we were making to the engine.
+The former benchmark suite has been there almost since the beginning, and was created as a way to keep an eye on certain functions and routines within Boa itself. Although useful, it
+wasn't comparable to other engines due to being so specific on how Boa works.
+
+The new suite is taken from [V8's old benchmark suite](https://github.com/mozilla/arewefastyet/tree/master/benchmarks/v8-v7) which, despite being deprecated, is still for comparative performance.
+Over time we will eventually need to work with other engines to have a more advanced benchmarking suite which can take into account modern JavaScript, but for now this is a good start.
+
+This change also offered a nice side effect of not having benchmark or test262 data in the main repository anymore. Last time we released we had [reports](https://www.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/1b91ora/comment/ktue8rf/) of the repository being too large, so we've taken steps to reduce the size of the repository by moving this data to a separate repository and building a nightly version for reporting. Not only this makes it easier for anyone cloning Boa today but pushes to `main` are now much faster due to us not having to run test262 or Benchmarks each time.
+
+## Intl updates
+
+## Builtins updates
+
+## APIs updates
+
+### Experimental features
+
+## Optimizations
+
+## Conclusion
+
+### How can you support Boa?
+
+Boa is an independent JavaScript engine implementing the ECMAScript specification, we rely on the
+support of the community to keep it going. If you want to support us, you can do so by donating to
+our [open collective]. Proceeeds here go towards this very website, the domain name, and remunerating
+members of the team who have worked on the features released.
+
+If financial contribution is not your strength, you can contribute by asking to be assigned to one of
+our [open issues], and asking for mentoring if you don't know your way around the engine. Our
+[contribution guide] should help you here. If you are more used to working with JavaScript or frontend
+web development, we also welcome help to improve our web presence, either in [our website], or in our
+[testing representation] page or benchmarks page. You can also contribute to our Criterion benchmark
+comparison GitHub [action].
+
+We are also looking to improve the documentation of the engine, both for developers of the engine
+itself and for users of the engine. Feel free to contact us in [Discord].
+
+[open collective]: https://opencollective.com/boa
+[open issues]: https://github.com/boa-dev/boa/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+no%3Aassignee
+[contribution guide]: https://github.com/boa-dev/boa/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md
+[our website]: https://github.com/boa-dev/boa-dev.github.io
+[testing representation]: https://github.com/boa-dev/boa/issues/820
+[action]: https://github.com/boa-dev/criterion-compare-action
+[Discord]: https://discord.gg/tUFFk9Y
+
+### Thank You
+
+Once again, big thanks to [all the contributors][contributors] of this release!!
+
+[contributors]: https://github.com/boa-dev/boa/graphs/contributors?from=2023-07-08&to=2024-03-05&type=c
+[changelog]: https://github.com/boa-dev/boa/blob/v0.18/CHANGELOG.md
+[conformance]: https://boajs.dev/boa/test262/
+[feed]: https://boajs.dev/blog/rss.xml
+[collective]: https://opencollective.com/boa
+[easy_issues]: https://github.com/boa-dev/boa/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3AE-Easy
+[first_issues]: https://github.com/boa-dev/boa/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3A%22good+first+issue%22