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Babel (transcompiler)

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(Redirected from Babel (transpiler)) Backwards compatible JavaScript compiler
Babel
Babel Logo
Logo
Original author(s)Sebastian McKenzie
Developer(s)Contributors
Initial releaseSeptember 28, 2014; 10 years ago (2014-09-28)
Stable release7.23.8 / January 8, 2024; 11 months ago (2024-01-08)
Repository
Written inJavaScript
Operating systemLinux, macOS, Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, AIX, Microsoft Windows
TypeCompiler
LicenseMIT
Websitebabeljs.io

Babel is a free and open-source JavaScript transcompiler that is mainly used to convert ECMAScript 2015+ (ES6+) code into backwards-compatible JavaScript code that can be run by older JavaScript engines. It allows web developers to take advantage of the newest features of the language.

Developers can use new JavaScript language features by using Babel to convert their source code into versions of JavaScript that a Web browser can process. Babel can also be used to compile TypeScript into JavaScript. The core version of Babel was downloaded 5 million times a month in 2016, and this increased to 16 million times a week in 2019.

Babel plugins transform syntax that is not widely supported into a backward-compatible version. For example, arrow functions, which are specified in ES6, are converted into regular function declarations. Non-standard JavaScript syntax such as JSX can also be transformed.

Babel can automatically inject polyfills provided by core-js for support features that are missing entirely from JavaScript environments. For example, static methods such as Array.from and built-ins such as Promise are available only in ES6 and above, but they can be used in older environments if core-js is used.

See also

References

  1. "first commit". Babel Github. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
  2. "Babel Latest Release". GitHub. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
  3. "babel/LICENSE at master". GitHub. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  4. "Technology Radar | Emerging Technology Trends for 2017 | ThoughtWorks". www.thoughtworks.com. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  5. "Why Babel Matters | codemix". codemix.com. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  6. Using Babel with TypeScript, TypeScript official website
  7. "The State of Babel · Babel". babeljs.io. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  8. "Babel's Funding Plans · Babel". babeljs.io. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  9. "Plugins · Babel". babeljs.io. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  10. "Introducing JSX - React". reactjs.org. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  11. "Using React and building a web site on Azure". Microsoft Faculty Connection. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  12. "core-js". GitHub.

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