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In this session titled "Using JavaScript from the Future in Your Rails App Today," Steve Kinney presents the advancements in JavaScript, particularly ECMAScript 6 (ES6), and how these features can greatly enhance the developer experience, especially for those familiar with Ruby. Kinney, an instructor at the Turing School of Software and Design, highlights the evolution of JavaScript from a niche language to the world's most popular programming language, while acknowledging its past complexities that often left developers feeling frustrated.

Key points discussed include:  
- **JavaScript's Origin and Evolution:** Initially, JavaScript was perceived as a sidekick to Java, with many quirks that made it less user-friendly. Its evolution through specifications like ECMAScript illustrates significant changes, particularly with the introduction of ES6.  
- **Important Features in ES6:**  
  - **Variable Declarations:** Shift from 'var' to 'let' and 'const' which helps clarify scope and prevent errors. Kinney illustrates how using 'let' significantly improves handling loops and event listeners.  
  - **Template Strings:** The introduction of backticks for string concatenation allows for cleaner syntax and string interpolation, simplifying code readability and maintenance.  
  - **Arrow Functions:** Provides a more concise syntax and solves common issues related to the 'this' keyword, making function declarations clearer and less prone to scope issues.  
  - **Class Syntax:** ES6 introduces an intuitive way to create classes, improving the ability to manage inheritance and object-oriented programming features similarly to Ruby.  
  - **New Operators and Defaults:** Features like the spread operator and default parameters streamline function definitions and handling of variable-length arguments, making coding more efficient.  
- **Integration with Rails:** Developers can immediately utilize ES6 features in their Rails applications through tools like Babel, which transpile modern JavaScript into versions compatible with older browsers. Kinney emphasizes the seamless adoption of these features into existing workflow processes within Rails.

Kinney concludes by encouraging the audience to embrace these new features, promising that they will make JavaScript a language that developers can enjoy using, much like Ruby. The session serves to bridge the gap between the frustrations of past JavaScript versions and the promising future with features that enhance usability and development efficiency.

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