refactor: remove the remaining IE8 code bits from the codebase

Closes angular#9356

Author: IgorMinar

docs/content/error/$httpBackend/noxhr.ngdoc

@@ -1218,37 +1218,35 @@ function $CompileProvider($provide, $$sanitizeUriProvider) {
             var attrEndName = false;
 
             attr = nAttrs[j];
-            if (!msie || msie >= 8 || attr.specified) {
-              name = attr.name;
-              value = trim(attr.value);
-
-              // support ngAttr attribute binding
-              ngAttrName = directiveNormalize(name);
-              if (isNgAttr = NG_ATTR_BINDING.test(ngAttrName)) {
-                name = snake_case(ngAttrName.substr(6), '-');
-              }
+            name = attr.name;
+            value = trim(attr.value);
 
-              var directiveNName = ngAttrName.replace(/(Start|End)$/, '');
-              if (directiveIsMultiElement(directiveNName)) {
-                if (ngAttrName === directiveNName + 'Start') {
-                  attrStartName = name;
-                  attrEndName = name.substr(0, name.length - 5) + 'end';
-                  name = name.substr(0, name.length - 6);
-                }
-              }
+            // support ngAttr attribute binding
+            ngAttrName = directiveNormalize(name);
+            if (isNgAttr = NG_ATTR_BINDING.test(ngAttrName)) {
+              name = snake_case(ngAttrName.substr(6), '-');
+            }
 
-              nName = directiveNormalize(name.toLowerCase());
-              attrsMap[nName] = name;
-              if (isNgAttr || !attrs.hasOwnProperty(nName)) {
-                  attrs[nName] = value;
-                  if (getBooleanAttrName(node, nName)) {
-                    attrs[nName] = true; // presence means true
-                  }
+            var directiveNName = ngAttrName.replace(/(Start|End)$/, '');
+            if (directiveIsMultiElement(directiveNName)) {
+              if (ngAttrName === directiveNName + 'Start') {
+                attrStartName = name;
+                attrEndName = name.substr(0, name.length - 5) + 'end';
+                name = name.substr(0, name.length - 6);
               }
-              addAttrInterpolateDirective(node, directives, value, nName, isNgAttr);
-              addDirective(directives, nName, 'A', maxPriority, ignoreDirective, attrStartName,
-                            attrEndName);
             }
+
+            nName = directiveNormalize(name.toLowerCase());
+            attrsMap[nName] = name;
+            if (isNgAttr || !attrs.hasOwnProperty(nName)) {
+                attrs[nName] = value;
+                if (getBooleanAttrName(node, nName)) {
+                  attrs[nName] = true; // presence means true
+                }
+            }
+            addAttrInterpolateDirective(node, directives, value, nName, isNgAttr);
+            addDirective(directives, nName, 'A', maxPriority, ignoreDirective, attrStartName,
+                          attrEndName);
           }
 
           // use class as directive

docs/content/error/$sce/iequirks.ngdoc

@@ -16,22 +16,6 @@
 var htmlAnchorDirective = valueFn({
   restrict: 'E',
   compile: function(element, attr) {
-
-    if (msie <= 8) {
-
-      // turn <a href ng-click="..">link</a> into a stylable link in IE
-      // but only if it doesn't have name attribute, in which case it's an anchor
-      if (!attr.href && !attr.name) {
-        attr.$set('href', '');
-      }
-
-      // add a comment node to anchors to workaround IE bug that causes element content to be reset
-      // to new attribute content if attribute is updated with value containing @ and element also
-      // contains value with @
-      // see issue #1949
-      element.append(document.createComment('IE fix'));
-    }
-
     if (!attr.href && !attr.xlinkHref && !attr.name) {
       return function(scope, element) {
         // SVGAElement does not use the href attribute, but rather the 'xlinkHref' attribute.

src/ng/compile.js

@@ -1,17 +1,8 @@
 'use strict';
 
-function createXhr(method) {
-    //if IE and the method is not RFC2616 compliant, or if XMLHttpRequest
-    //is not available, try getting an ActiveXObject. Otherwise, use XMLHttpRequest
-    //if it is available
-    if (msie <= 8 && (!method.match(/^(get|post|head|put|delete|options)$/i) ||
-      !window.XMLHttpRequest)) {
-      return new window.ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
-    } else if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
-      return new window.XMLHttpRequest();
-    }
-
-    throw minErr('$httpBackend')('noxhr', "This browser does not support XMLHttpRequest.");
+// TODO: inline the constructor call and remove this helper method
+function createXhr() {
+  return new window.XMLHttpRequest();
 }
 
 /**
@@ -59,7 +50,7 @@ function createHttpBackend($browser, createXhr, $browserDefer, callbacks, rawDoc
       });
     } else {
 
-      var xhr = createXhr(method);
+      var xhr = createXhr();
 
       xhr.open(method, url, true);
       forEach(headers, function(value, key) {

src/ng/directive/a.js

@@ -60,14 +60,12 @@ function $$SanitizeUriProvider() {
   this.$get = function() {
     return function sanitizeUri(uri, isImage) {
       var regex = isImage ? imgSrcSanitizationWhitelist : aHrefSanitizationWhitelist;
-      var normalizedVal;
-      // NOTE: urlResolve() doesn't support IE < 8 so we don't sanitize for that case.
-      if (!msie || msie >= 8 ) {
-        normalizedVal = urlResolve(uri).href;
-        if (normalizedVal !== '' && !normalizedVal.match(regex)) {
-          return 'unsafe:'+normalizedVal;
-        }
+      var normalizedVal = urlResolve(uri).href;
+
+      if (normalizedVal !== '' && !normalizedVal.match(regex)) {
+        return 'unsafe:'+normalizedVal;
       }
+
       return uri;
     };
   };

src/ng/httpBackend.js

@@ -729,14 +729,6 @@ function $SceProvider() {
 
   this.$get = ['$parse', '$sniffer', '$sceDelegate', function(
                 $parse,   $sniffer,   $sceDelegate) {
-    // Prereq: Ensure that we're not running in IE8 quirks mode.  In that mode, IE allows
-    // the "expression(javascript expression)" syntax which is insecure.
-    if (enabled && $sniffer.msie && $sniffer.msieDocumentMode < 8) {
-      throw $sceMinErr('iequirks',
-        'Strict Contextual Escaping does not support Internet Explorer version < 9 in quirks ' +
-        'mode.  You can fix this by adding the text <!doctype html> to the top of your HTML ' +
-        'document.  See http://docs.angularjs.org/api/ng.$sce for more information.');
-    }
 
     var sce = shallowCopy(SCE_CONTEXTS);