Skip to content

rclnodejs v1.0.0

Choose a tag to compare

View all tags
@minggangw minggangw released this 06 May 05:27
· 118 commits to develop since this release
1.0.0
4997a47

🎉Celebrating 1.0.0 Release🎉

As rclnodejs reaches this significant milestone of version 1.0.0, it's worth reflecting on the journey from its inception to becoming a robust, production-ready ROS 2 client library for JavaScript and TypeScript.

Project Evolution

rclnodejs began as an experimental bridge between the Robot Operating System (ROS 2) and the Node.js ecosystem in year of 2017, with the vision of bringing robotics capabilities to the vast JavaScript developer community. What started as a proof of concept has matured into a feature-complete, high-performance client library that stands alongside the official ROS 2 client libraries.

Core Achievements

Communication Patterns

  • Complete Implementation: Fully implemented all ROS 2 communication patterns including publishers/subscribers, services/clients, actions, and parameters
  • N-API Integration: Moved from NAN to N-API for better stability, performance, and compatibility with newer Node.js versions
  • Quality of Service: Comprehensive support for ROS 2 QoS configurations and content filtering

Language and Platform Support

  • TypeScript Integration: Added comprehensive TypeScript type definitions for enhanced development experience
  • Cross-Platform: Robust support for Linux and Windows environments
  • ROS 2 Distro Compatibility: Maintained compatibility with multiple ROS 2 releases, including Humble Hawksbill and Jazzy Jalisco

Advanced Features

  • Lifecycle Nodes: Full implementation of the ROS 2 managed node lifecycle
  • Parameter System: Complete parameter management with parameter events and callbacks
  • Time API: Flexible time abstractions including simulated time support
  • Graph Introspection: Comprehensive API for examining the ROS graph, including node counts, publishers, and subscribers

Developer Experience

  • Message Generation: Automated generation of JavaScript and TypeScript interfaces from ROS 2 IDL files
  • CLI Tools: Created rclnodejs-cli for project scaffolding and message generation
  • Extensive Documentation: Comprehensive API documentation with examples
  • Electron Support: Integration with Electron for desktop GUI applications

Technical Excellence

Throughout development, emphasis has been placed on:

  • Performance: Native bindings optimization for minimum overhead
  • Memory Management: Careful handling of resources to prevent leaks in long-running applications
  • Safety: Comprehensive error handling and validation
  • Testing: Extensive test suite ensuring reliability across supported platforms

Community and Growth

The project has fostered an active community of contributors and users, evidenced by:

  • Increasing Adoption: Growing download statistics on npm
  • Contributor Base: Diverse community of contributors bringing varied expertise
  • Integration Ecosystem: Adoption in various robotics projects connecting JavaScript applications with ROS 2

Looking Forward

After 78 releases in the past 8 years, version 1.0.0 represents a stable foundation for production use. Future development will focus on:

  1. Supporting new ROS 2 releases and features
  2. Further performance optimizations
  3. Enhanced tooling for developer experience
  4. Expanding integration with web technologies

This release marks rclnodejs as a mature client library, ready to support real-world robotics applications leveraging the power of JavaScript and TypeScript with ROS 2.

Assets 2
Loading