Date Object

The Date object is used to work with dates and times. It stores a timestamp (milliseconds since Unix epoch). Methods allow getting, setting, and formatting date components.

However, the traditional Date object has many limitations: mutability, confusing month indexing (0‑11), poor time zone handling, and lack of a separate date-only type. Temporal is a new built‑in API (currently a TC39 proposal) that addresses these issues. It is expected to become the standard way to handle dates and times in JavaScript.

Using Date

const now = new Date();
console.log(now.getFullYear()); // current year
console.log(now.getMonth()); // 0‑11 (January = 0)
console.log(now.getDate()); // day of month

const specific = new Date(2025, 0, 15); // Jan 15, 2025
console.log(specific.toLocaleDateString("en-US")); // "1/15/2025"
console.log(specific.toISOString()); // "2025-01-15T00:00:00.000Z"

// Timestamp
const timestamp = Date.now();
console.log(timestamp); // milliseconds since epoch

Using Temporal (Modern Alternative)

Temporal provides immutable objects, intuitive APIs, and proper time zone handling. It is not yet part of the standard but can be polyfilled. Key types:

• Temporal.PlainDate – date without time (year, month, day)
• Temporal.PlainTime – time without date
• Temporal.PlainDateTime – date and time without time zone
• Temporal.ZonedDateTime – date and time with a specific time zone

// Example using Temporal (with polyfill)
// Note: This is not yet built into all environments; requires a polyfill.
const { Temporal } = require("@js-temporal/polyfill"); // hypothetical import

const date = Temporal.PlainDate.from("2025-03-27");
console.log(date.year); // 2025
console.log(date.month); // 3
console.log(date.day); // 27

const now = Temporal.Now.zonedDateTimeISO();
console.log(now.toString()); // e.g., "2025-03-27T14:30:00+01:00[Europe/Paris]"

For production use today, stick with Date or a library like moment.js or date-fns, but keep an eye on Temporal as it becomes available.