| Babel | |
| Author: | Sebastian McKenzie |
| Developer: | Contributors |
| Released: | [1] |
| Latest Release Version: | 7.23.8 |
| Latest Release Date: | [2] |
| Programming Language: | JavaScript |
| Operating System: | Linux, macOS, Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, AIX, Microsoft Windows |
| Genre: | Compiler |
| License: | MIT[3] |
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.[4]
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.[5] Babel can also be used to compile TypeScript into JavaScript.[6] 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.[7] [8]
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.[9] Non-standard JavaScript syntax such as JSX can also be transformed.[10] [11]
Babel can automatically inject polyfills provided by core-js[12] 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.