JavaScript Build Systems from First Principles

Abstract

Modern JavaScript toolchains are highly complex, consisting of many interconnected parts, such as compilers that allow developers to use special syntax or module bundlers that combine source files into ones that can run in a web browser. Although these tools are used daily by millions of developers, they're often seen as black boxes. In this workshop, we will try to demystify the important parts of the JavaScript toolchain by building a simple module bundler from scratch. We will process TypeScript source files into a single JavaScript file that a web browser can run. Some familiarity with the JavaScript/TypeScript toolchain (such as Webpack, the TypeScript compiler, or Babel) will help attendees get the most out of this workshop. However, the concepts introduced will be applicable to a variety of developer tools.

Bio

Shuwen Qian is a current OMSCS student in Computing Systems and a senior software engineer at Squarespace in New York. His professional and academic interests include API design and software internals.