Webpack
Webpack is a popular module bundler among JavaScript developers.
For example, youll have to manually control the order each script is executed on the web app.
Loading many files could also affect the performance of your software.
With the use of Webpack, you’re able to stop worrying about these issues.
Webpack, easily and efficiently, takes care of this business for you.
Not just JavaScript, you’re free to also use Webpacks css-loader to manage the CSS files.
It gives you the freedom to load parts of code only when they are needed.
This on-demand, lazy loading could be used efficiently to increase the performance of your system.
You load the new code blocks only when the user has done something to require their functionality.
Babel
Babel is the most popular transpiler for JavaScript.
Transpilers are tools that take the code written in one language as input and convert it to another language.
In Babels case, it mainly takes ES6 code and outputs ES5 code.
Take the following code snippet written using newly introduced classes in ES6.
If thats all Babel does, why should you use Babel in your project?
Should you stop using Babel after all the browsers start supporting ES6?
The answer is, no.
Even though the focus is currently on ES6, ECMA releases new JavaScript updates yearly.
Itll always take browsers some time to catch up with the newest standards.
Also, you’re free to use Babel with Angular to write ES6 code.
In addition to ES6, Babel can transpile Typescript to ES5 as well.
ESLint
ESLint is the default linter of most JavaScript developers.
It helps you write cleaner code and adhere to the coding conventions you follow.
The task of a linter is to analyze your code and flag programming and style errors in it.
With ESLint, you have complete control over which errors should be flagged and what their error level is.
you’re free to define the error level of a rule as error, warning, or disabled.
ESLint is quite useful to spot errors like undeclared variable assignments and issues related to variable scope.
you’re free to also use rules to enforce certain coding conventions in your code.
Then, whenever you mistakenly leave too many empty lines, ESLint shows an error in your code.
Prettier
Prettier is a code formatter.
Similar to ESLint, Prettier helps you write cleaner code that confirms to a style guide of your choice.
But its important to understand that they are not interchangeable.
ESLint offers more use cases than checking style errors.
Conclusion
JavaScript ecosystem relies on tools that help developers to resolve problems and build amazing apps.
These tools provide support to clean code, compatibility issues, and performance.
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