The Emerging Front-end Javascript Landscape

Frontend javascript development is evolving rapidly.

It was only a few short years ago when the most sophisticated library for building front-end javascript applications was a tiny (7.6kb) library called Backbone.js. Oh, how the landscape has changed in the past few years.

Complexity, Complexity, Complexity

As our front end web applications have become more sophisticated and complex, so too, unfortunately, have the tools developers use to build such applications. This is not so much a criticism of the community or it's technology choices, but more a statement of fact: Building modern front-end javascript applications today is much more complex than it was even a few years ago.

It's important to take note of this point and absorb it, because the learning curve of these tools may feel foreign, unfamiliar, and more low-level than you're used to. Building a modern front-end javascript application involves orchestrating a complex build system (via Webpack) that ties together different compilers (such as Babel) and higher level libraries (like React)

Webpack + Babel + React

As part of this metamorphosis, a new de facto standard toolkit has emerged: Babel, Webpack, and React. The primary focus of this book is building modern javascript front-end apps with React and Webpack. However, Babel plays a critical role in that toolkit, and a basic understanding of what it does is important.