JavaScript Edition! Build Tools, Date Handling APIs, and SSR Benchmark Wars
Full Description
We’ve got a good show for you today! It’s chock full of new build tools, better date handling in JavaScript, and SSR benchmarks to prove which framework is truly the fastest. The rust-ification of JavaScript build tools continues, as next generation build tool Rspack hits v1 and claims it’s ready for primetime. Rspack boasts (almost) complete compatibility with the webpack API while also being 10x faster. All the features we know and love from webpack-powered projects are there: tree shaking, code splitting, scope hoisting, and support for Module Federation 2.0, and with companies like ByteDance, Microsoft, Amazon using Rspack, it’s a pretty good bet that Rspack is one to keep an eye on. JS dates are about to be fixed thanks to the new Temporal API proposal, which is currently in stage 3 of the TC39 process of adding new features to the JavaScript language. Dates in any programming language are always painful (time zones, leap years, daylight savings time) and as such, lots of libraries have arisen to make working with them easier, but these libraries can add a lot of extra size to a project. The Temporal API aims to fundamentally change how time is handled in JS, making it one of the few languages to address the issue comprehensively. Although the proposal isn’t out yet, there is a polyfill from the FullCalendar team you can use now to get a feel for how the API will be in the future. A new benchmark war has erupted online: this time benchmarking which JavaScript SSR frameworks are the fastest. Benchmarking results are dubious at best because everyone’s application is different, and has different requirements, but this one got a lot of heat due to the author using an LLM to generate the code to run in these different frameworks (React, Vue, Svelte, Solid, Fastify, etc). While it is entertaining to see which framework could be faster, take the results with a grain of salt, and do your own due diligence when it comes to deciding which JavaScript framework to build a new application. Chances are, all of them are fast enough for what you’re trying to achieve. Finally, the CSS Survey 2024 is out now! Fill it out, be amazed at how much more there is to CSS than you previously thought, and write in Front-end Fire in the podcast section of the survey if you like our show. We greatly appreciate it!