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  1. Stackups
  2. DevOps
  3. Build Automation
  4. Javascript Compilers
  5. Babel vs ESLint

Babel vs ESLint

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Babel
Babel
Stacks27.3K
Followers11.0K
Votes391
GitHub Stars43.8K
Forks5.8K
ESLint
ESLint
Stacks38.6K
Followers14.0K
Votes28
GitHub Stars26.6K
Forks4.8K

Babel vs ESLint: What are the differences?

  1. Key difference 1: Purpose - Babel is a transpiler that allows developers to write modern JavaScript code and convert it into backward-compatible versions to ensure compatibility across different browsers and platforms. On the other hand, ESLint is a linter that helps enforce code quality and maintainability by identifying and flagging potential errors, bugs, and inconsistencies in the code.

  2. Key difference 2: Functionality - Babel mainly focuses on transforming JavaScript syntax and features, such as arrow functions, async/await, and class properties. It allows developers to use newer language features in their code before they are natively supported. In contrast, ESLint primarily focuses on analyzing and enforcing coding style conventions, identifying problematic patterns, and providing suggestions for code improvements.

  3. Key difference 3: Configuration - Babel can be configured through a .babelrc file or specified directly in the build process, allowing developers to control the transformation process based on their specific requirements. On the other hand, ESLint is highly configurable and allows developers to define rules, plugins, and presets in .eslintrc files to enforce consistent code style and best practices.

  4. Key difference 4: Integration - Babel integrates well with existing build tools like webpack or Babel plugins, allowing seamless integration into the development workflow. It can be used alongside other tools such as TypeScript or ESLint itself for a complete development setup. On the other hand, ESLint can be integrated into popular code editors, build systems, and continuous integration (CI) pipelines to provide real-time code analysis and enforce consistent code quality.

  5. Key difference 5: Error Types - Babel primarily deals with syntax and language features, ensuring compatibility and transforming code accordingly. It identifies syntax errors or unsupported features during the transformation process. On the other hand, ESLint focuses on identifying logical errors, potential bugs, and code smells based on predefined rulesets or custom rules defined by the developer.

  6. Key difference 6: Developer Experience - Babel is primarily focused on providing a smooth development experience by enabling developers to write modern JavaScript code and ensuring compatibility across different environments. It allows developers to adopt newer language features without worrying about browser support. On the other hand, ESLint aims to improve code quality, readability, and maintainability by enforcing coding style and best practices, helping developers catch errors or problematic patterns early on.

In Summary, Babel is a transpiler that converts modern JavaScript code into backwards-compatible versions, enabling developers to use newer language features. ESLint is a linter that identifies code errors, enforces coding style conventions, and maintains code quality.

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Advice on Babel, ESLint

Carlos
Carlos

Mar 14, 2020

Needs adviceonPrettierPrettierESLintESLintgulpgulp

Scenario: I want to integrate Prettier in our code base which is currently using ESLint (for .js and .scss both). The project is using gulp.

It doesn't feel quite right to me to use ESLint, I wonder if it would be better to use Stylelint or Sass Lint instead.

I completed integrating ESLint + Prettier, Planning to do the same with [ Stylelint || Sasslint || EsLint] + Prettier.

And have gulp 'fix' on file save (Watcher).

Any recommendation is appreciated.

465k views465k
Comments
Alex
Alex

Software Engineer

Aug 7, 2020

Review

you don't actually have to choose between these tools as they have vastly different purposes. i think its more a matter of understanding how to use them.

while eslint and stylelint are used to notify you about code quality issues, to guide you to write better code, prettier automatically handles code formatting (without notifying me). nothing else.

prettier and eslint both officially discourage using the eslint-plugin-prettier way, as these tools actually do very different things. autofixing with linters on watch isnt a great idea either. auto-fixing should only be done intentionally. you're not alone though, as a lot of devs set this up wrong.

i encourage you to think about what problem you're trying to solve and configure accordingly.

for my teams i set it up like this:

  • eslint, stylelint, prettier locally installed for cli use and ide support
  • eslint config prettier (code formatting rules are not eslints business, so dont warn me about it)
  • vscode workspace config: format on save
  • separate npm scripts for linting, and formatting
  • precommit hooks (husky)

so you can easily integrate with gulp. its just js after all ;)

159k views159k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Babel
Babel
ESLint
ESLint

Babel will turn your ES6+ code into ES5 friendly code, so you can start using it right now without waiting for browser support.

A pluggable and configurable linter tool for identifying and reporting on patterns in JavaScript. Maintain your code quality with ease.

Array comprehensions; Arrow functions; Async functions; Async generator functions; Classes; Class properties; Computed property names; Constants; Decorators; Default parameters; Destructuring; Exponentiation operator; For-of; Generators; Generator comprehensions; Let scoping; Modules; Module export extensions; Object rest/spread; Property method assignment; Property name shorthand; Rest parameters; React; Spread; Tail call optimisation; Template literals; Type annotations; Unicode regex; JSX; React; Flow; Node.js; Meteor; Rails; Broccoli; Browserify; Require.js; Brunch; Duo; Gobble; Grunt; Gulp; Make; Webpack; Connect; Jade; Jest; Karma; Mocha; Nodemon
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Statistics
GitHub Stars
43.8K
GitHub Stars
26.6K
GitHub Forks
5.8K
GitHub Forks
4.8K
Stacks
27.3K
Stacks
38.6K
Followers
11.0K
Followers
14.0K
Votes
391
Votes
28
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 165
    Modern Javascript works with all browsers
  • 77
    Open source
  • 60
    Integration with lots of tools
  • 56
    Easy setup
  • 26
    Very active on github
Pros
  • 8
    Consistent javascript - opinions don't matter anymore
  • 6
    IDE Integration
  • 6
    Free
  • 4
    Customizable
  • 2
    Broad ecosystem of support & users
Integrations
Grunt
Grunt
Broccoli
Broccoli
Browserify
Browserify
Brunch
Brunch
Duo
Duo
gulp
gulp
RequireJS
RequireJS
JavaScript
JavaScript

What are some alternatives to Babel, ESLint?

Code Climate

Code Climate

After each Git push, Code Climate analyzes your code for complexity, duplication, and common smells to determine changes in quality and surface technical debt hotspots.

Codacy

Codacy

Codacy automates code reviews and monitors code quality on every commit and pull request on more than 40 programming languages reporting back the impact of every commit or PR, issues concerning code style, best practices and security.

Phabricator

Phabricator

Phabricator is a collection of open source web applications that help software companies build better software.

PullReview

PullReview

PullReview helps Ruby and Rails developers to develop new features cleanly, on-time, and with confidence by automatically reviewing their code.

Gerrit Code Review

Gerrit Code Review

Gerrit is a self-hosted pre-commit code review tool. It serves as a Git hosting server with option to comment incoming changes. It is highly configurable and extensible with default guarding policies, webhooks, project access control and more.

SonarQube

SonarQube

SonarQube provides an overview of the overall health of your source code and even more importantly, it highlights issues found on new code. With a Quality Gate set on your project, you will simply fix the Leak and start mechanically improving.

RuboCop

RuboCop

RuboCop is a Ruby static code analyzer. Out of the box it will enforce many of the guidelines outlined in the community Ruby Style Guide.

CodeFactor.io

CodeFactor.io

CodeFactor.io automatically and continuously tracks code quality with every GitHub or BitBucket commit and pull request, helping software developers save time in code reviews and efficiently tackle technical debt.

Amazon CodeGuru

Amazon CodeGuru

It is a machine learning service for automated code reviews and application performance recommendations. It helps you find the most expensive lines of code that hurt application performance and keep you up all night troubleshooting, then gives you specific recommendations to fix or improve your code.

Reviewable

Reviewable

A code review tool for GitHub pull requests inspired by Google's internal tool. Powerful diffing and workflow features wrapped in a beautiful UI, with seamless GitHub integration. Free for public repos.

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