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There’s not much the author listed that can’t be applied to typescript or any other JS compatible languages. Rewriting their JS tools in a language as low leve

There’s not much the author listed that can’t be applied to typescript or any other JS compatible languages. Rewriting their JS tools in a language as low level as Rust is asinine. I have no doubt it’s a weak attempt to indulge in their fanboyism. I wouldn’t be surprised if this change causes massive technical debt, but people seem to love Rust, so there’s gotta be someone for this role.

junon 5y ago
First let me say I really dislike Rust. Personal preference. However, having worked with Node for almost 10 years now, with a number of bundlers, most in Javascript but some in other languages, Javascript tools rarely win the performance race. We switched our medium-sized app from Rollup (Javascript) to ESBuild (Rust). Our build times went from 5-15 minutes, to just under 1 second - with full feature parity. I'm sure a lot of this boils down to algorithms and whatnot, sure. But I still would like to think it's in part the language choice, too.
- mastrsushi 5y ago
  But how much do those type of performance benefits matter to JS tools like a linter? The only positive they’re getting out of a native compiler language is unnoticeable performance boosts.
  - Shish2k 5y ago
    Spotting lint problems in real time as I type is way more useful than spotting them after I submit a pull request and wait 10 minutes for the CI system to kick in :)
  - junon 5y ago
    > But how much do those type of performance benefits matter to JS tools like a linter? A lot, I don't see how this is really a question. > The only positive they’re getting out of a native compiler language is unnoticeable performance boosts. 5 minutes to 1 second of build time for the same features isn't what I'd call "unnoticeable".
  - pdimitar 5y ago
    Did you just call going from 5 minutes waiting to 1 second near-instant finish "an unnoticeable performance boost"? lol if so. :D
- acdibble 5y ago
  Probably just a typo due to the topic of the thread, but esbuild is written in Go.
  - junon 5y ago
    Yes, got it mixed up in my head :)

junon 5y ago

First let me say I really dislike Rust. Personal preference. However, having worked with Node for almost 10 years now, with a number of bundlers, most in Javascript but some in other languages, Javascript tools rarely win the performance race. We switched our medium-sized app from Rollup (Javascript) to ESBuild (Rust). Our build times went from 5-15 minutes, to just under 1 second - with full feature parity. I'm sure a lot of this boils down to algorithms and whatnot, sure. But I still would like to think it's in part the language choice, too.

mastrsushi 5y ago
But how much do those type of performance benefits matter to JS tools like a linter? The only positive they’re getting out of a native compiler language is unnoticeable performance boosts.
- Shish2k 5y ago
  Spotting lint problems in real time as I type is way more useful than spotting them after I submit a pull request and wait 10 minutes for the CI system to kick in :)
- junon 5y ago
  > But how much do those type of performance benefits matter to JS tools like a linter? A lot, I don't see how this is really a question. > The only positive they’re getting out of a native compiler language is unnoticeable performance boosts. 5 minutes to 1 second of build time for the same features isn't what I'd call "unnoticeable".
- pdimitar 5y ago
  Did you just call going from 5 minutes waiting to 1 second near-instant finish "an unnoticeable performance boost"? lol if so. :D
acdibble 5y ago
Probably just a typo due to the topic of the thread, but esbuild is written in Go.
- junon 5y ago
  Yes, got it mixed up in my head :)