Professional JavaScript for Web Developers, 5th Edition

DJavaScript Tools

Writing JavaScript is a lot like writing in any other programming language, with tools designed to make development easier. The number of tools available for JavaScript developers continues to grow, making it much easier to locate problems, optimize, and deploy JavaScript-based solutions. Some of the tools are designed to be used from JavaScript, whereas others can be run outside the browser. This appendix provides an overview of some of these tools, as well as additional resources for more information.

NOTE You will notice that various tools are included in multiple sections throughout this appendix. Many JavaScript tools available today are meant to be all-in-one project management tools, and thus they relate to multiple domains.

PACKAGE MANAGERS

JavaScript projects will usually need to leverage third-party libraries and assets to avoid code duplication and speed development. Third-party libraries, referred to as “packages,” are hosted on publicly available repositories. Packages can take the form of assets that will be delivered to the browser, JavaScript libraries that will be compiled as part of your project, or even tools for your project development pipeline. These packages are almost always actively developed and undergoing revisions, in addition to having different flavors of releases. JavaScript package managers allow you to manage what packages your projects depend on, how to access and install them, and which versions to install.

Package ...