Web frameworks are transforming from runtime libraries into optimizing compilers
1–10 of 231 posts
Re: Web frameworks are transforming from runtime libraries into optimizing compilers
#2Isn't the title backwards? (Still seems so after reading the article)
Re: Web frameworks are transforming from runtime libraries into optimizing compilers
#3Isn't the title backwards? (Still seems so after reading the article)
Yes, I agree it's awkward, I think it's meant as:
> The new web development frameworks are compilers
Re: Web frameworks are transforming from runtime libraries into optimizing compilers
#4"The trend started by minifiers like UglifyJS and continued by transpilers like Babel will only accelerate."
Those were predated by Closure Compiler, which was started with Gmail, and Closure Compiler in some ways still doesn't have an equal. Besides being a fully optimizing compiler, it also has a module system for code splitting, and optimization passes designed to move code at the method/property level from initially loaded code into deferred loaded code if it is detected to only be used later.
You can see this in action with photos.google.com which splits up every UI component, model, and controller into a dependency tree of modules, which are aggressively optimized. When an action needs to fire, only the transitive dependency of reachable code needed to handle it is loaded.
The closest external version of this is Malte Ubl's"Splittables" for Closure Compiler (https://medium.com/@cramforce/introducing-splittable-1c882ba...)
Re: Web frameworks are transforming from runtime libraries into optimizing compilers
#5I don't think so.
Browsers will catch up with what developers want.
We have seen that with ActiveX, Flash, Java applets, jQuery etc. Every time tech was needed because "The browser alone is not good enough" the browser became better and made the additional tech obsolete.
Re: Web frameworks are transforming from runtime libraries into optimizing compilers
#6I don't think so. Browsers will catch up with what developers want. We have seen that with ActiveX, Flash, Java applets, jQuery etc. Every time tech was needed because "The browser alone is not good enough" the browser became better and made the additional tech obsolete.
Yeah, webassembly is kinda changing this.
Re: Web frameworks are transforming from runtime libraries into optimizing compilers
#7I would rather suggest the opposite: the compilers will be moved out of frameworks, because they will become more and more powerful and general purpose, so that there is no need to handle framework specific things.
When we have web assembly and compilers like the Kotlin compiler that can translate a high-level language to web assembly, there is little need for framework specific compilation.
Re: Web frameworks are transforming from runtime libraries into optimizing compilers
#8I don't think so. Browsers will catch up with what developers want. We have seen that with ActiveX, Flash, Java applets, jQuery etc. Every time tech was needed because "The browser alone is not good enough" the browser became better and made the additional tech obsolete.
Yeah, except it took browsers a decade to get better enough, and the road towards getting better is mired by compatibility problems, requiring tons of expertise to deal with that sort of stuff. But developers want to build useful stuff yesterday, and users demand good experiences the day before yesterday.
Re: Web frameworks are transforming from runtime libraries into optimizing compilers
#9I don't think so. Browsers will catch up with what developers want. We have seen that with ActiveX, Flash, Java applets, jQuery etc. Every time tech was needed because "The browser alone is not good enough" the browser became better and made the additional tech obsolete.
Yeah, except it took browsers a decade to get better enough, and the road towards getting better is mired by compatibility problems, requiring tons of expertise to deal with that sort of stuff. But developers want to build useful stuff yesterday, and users demand good experiences the day before yesterday.
I did build useful stuff yesterday. And I'm happy I never used any of the "additional tech". Because now that stuff still runs today and pays my bills.
Re: Web frameworks are transforming from runtime libraries into optimizing compilers
#10"The trend started by minifiers like UglifyJS and continued by transpilers like Babel will only accelerate." Those were predated by Closure Compiler, which was started with Gmail, and Closure Compiler in some ways still doesn't have an equal. Besides being a fully optimizing compiler, it also has a module system for code splitting, and optimization passes designed to move code at the method/property level from initia…
Those features are supported in Webpack and other bundlers.
Code splitting: https://webpack.js.org/guides/code-splitting/
Tree shaking: https://webpack.js.org/guides/tree-shaking/