ECMAScript 5 Strict Mode, JSON, and More
Previously I analyzed ECMAScript 5’s Object and Property system. This is a huge new aspect of the language and deserved its special consideration.
There are a number of other new features and APIs that need attention, as well. The largest of which are Strict Mode and native JSON support.
Strict Mode
Strict Mode is a new feature in ECMAScript 5 that allows you to place a program, or a function, in a “strict” operating context. This strict context prevents certain actions from being taken and throws more exceptions (generally providing the user with more information and a tapered-down coding experience).
Since ECMAScript 5 is backwards-compatible with ECMAScript 3, all of the “features” that were in ECMAScript 3 that were “deprecated” are just disabled (or throw errors) in strict mode, instead.