Add blog post for v7.2.0

website/blog/2018-12-03-7.2.0.md

@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title:  "7.2.0 Released: Private Instance Methods"
+author: Nicolò Ribaudo
+authorURL: https://twitter.com/NicoloRibaudo
+date:   2018-12-03 12:00:00
+categories: announcements
+share_text: "Babel 7.2.0 Released"
+---
+
+We just released a new minor version of Babel!
+
+This release includes support for private instance methods and a bunch of bug fixes regarding Flow and TypeScript types. You can read the whole changelog [on GitHub](https://github.com/babel/babel/releases/tag/v7.2.0).
+
+<!-- truncate -->
+
+A lot of new contributors fixed bugs or implemented new features in this release: thanks to [Gcaufy](https://github.com/Gcaufy), [Grigory Moroz](https://github.com/morozRed), [Paul Happ](https://github.com/phapp88), [Tim McClure](https://github.com/tim-mc) and [Veaceslav Cotruta](https://github.com/katrotz)!
+
+A big shout out to Bloomberg for sponsoring the implementation of private class elements! This support for private _instance_ methods  is a follow-up to private _static_ fields released in Babel [7.1.0](https://babeljs.io/blog/2018/09/17/7.1.0#private-static-fields-stage-3).
+
+If you or your company wants to support Babel and the evolution of JavaScript, but aren't sure how, you can donate to us on [OpenCollective](https://opencollective.com/babel) and, better yet, work with us on the implementation of [new ECMAScript proposals](https://github.com/babel/proposals) directly!
+
+## Highlights
+
+### Private Instance Methods ([#8654](https://github.com/babel/babel/pull/8654))
+
+```javascript=
+class Person {
+  #age = 19;
+
+  #increaseAge() {
+    this.#age++;
+  }
+
+  birthday() {
+    this.#increaseAge();
+    alert("Happy Birthday!");
+  }
+}
+```
+
+Thanks to [Tim](https://github.com/tim-mc) for implementing this proposal, and to [Nicolò](https://twitter.com/NicoloRibaudo) and [Justin](https://github.com/jridgewell) for the reviews!
+
+You can test private methods by adding the `@babel/plugin-proposal-private-methods` plugin to your Babel configuration, or enabling the `stage-3` preset in the [repl](https://babeljs.io/repl/build/master#?presets=stage-3).
+
+Private accessors [are also coming](https://github.com/babel/babel/pull/9101), and we have done some big internal refactoring that allows us to add support for private elements to decorators soon :tada:.
+
+### "Smart" Pipeline Operator Parsing ([#8289](https://github.com/babel/babel/pull/8289))
+
+Thanks to the work of [James DiGioia](https://github.com/mAAdhaTTah), `@babel/parser` now also supports the [Smart Pipeline Operator](https://github.com/js-choi/proposal-smart-pipelines/), in addition to the [Simple](https://github.com/tc39/proposal-pipeline-operator) version.
+
+We currently only support the "core" of the smart pipeline proposal, and not the additional features.
+
+```javascript=
+// "Smart"
+const result = 2 |> double |> 3 + # |> toStringBase(2, #); // "111"
+
+// "Simple"
+const result = 2 |> double |> (x => 3 + x) |> (x => toStringBase(2, x));
+```
+
+Babel implements multiple variants of this proposal to help TC39 test and gather feedback from the community. As with all proposals, expect changes in the future.
+
+If you are directly using `@babel/parser` and you want to test this proposal, you can pass the `proposal: "smart"` option to the pipeline plugin:
+
+```javascript=
+const ast = babel.parse(code, {
+  plugins: [
+    ["pipelineOperator", { proposal: "smart" }]
+  ]
+})
+```
+
+We don't support transpiling this syntax yet, but it will come soon.
+
+### Plugin Names ([#8769](https://github.com/babel/babel/pull/8769))
+
+Every official plugin now provides Babel its name. Although this doesn't affect normal Babel use, it provides a consistent identifier for each plugin. This is particularly useful for things like [Time Travel](https://github.com/babel/website/pull/1736), which allows you to see exactly what each plugin is doing to your code. You can see this in effect via our [repl](https://babeljs.io/repl/build/master#?timeTravel=true):
+
+![](https://i.imgur.com/AzKc37i.gif)