JavaScript Tools Every Developer Should Know

JavaScript is still the most widely used programming language on the planet. You will almost certainly require JavaScript if you want to develop anything on the web. <!--more--> The language's success is partly due to the numerous JavaScript tools that make programming simple and pleasant. There are plenty of JavaScript tools available. These tools in the JavaScript ecosystem aim to enhance development and debugging.

The challenge is deciding which ones are best for you and your workflow. This article introduces some of the best JavaScript development tools, frameworks, and libraries to help developers be more productive.

JavaScript has thousands of valuable tools associated with it. This guide will share 10+ tools and the tasks they handle that JavaScript developers at all levels can use to improve their productivity. Without further ado, let us review the list of tools every developer should know in the journey of JavaScript development.

Prerequisites #

This article is suitable for web developers who want to familiarize themselves with essential JavaScript developer tools.

JavaScript Frameworks #

Frameworks provide developers with a foundation when building JavaScript applications. This saves developers time and effort when starting from scratch, this helps with little to no configuration. A JavaScript framework is an application written in JavaScript that allows developers to customize the functions and use them conveniently.

It adds interactivity to your JavaScript application. JavaScript has several frameworks, and each framework serves a different purpose. JavaScript frameworks include:

1. AngularJS #

AngularJS is a robust JavaScript framework used to build Single Page Application (SPA) projects. SPA-based web apps allow developers to deliver valuable and dynamic content.

They work by loading content from the webserver rather than the web browser leading to faster load times. A primary feature of Angular is that it extends HTML into the application and interpolates attributes to perform data binding and dependency injection.

2. Vue.js #

Vue.js is a front-end user interface (UI) framework written in JavaScript. It also creates SPAs when used with modern tools and supporting libraries. Vue.js allows you to write JavaScript components that encapsulate data or a state.

Then, using HTML, reactively attach that state to a template. This framework is popular among developers because of its ease of use and ability to scale up in complexity. Its plugin system lets you add things like a network, state management, and backend support, among other things.

Libraries #

JavaScript libraries are collections of functions that can create apps with advanced features. Depending on the language, a library has a variety of functions, objects, and methods. As a result, your JavaScript application can refer to a library that offers that capability. JavaScript libraries are used for animations, data visualization, data handling, user interface, and more.

JavaScript libraries include:

1. jQuery #

jQuery is a library used for the Document Object Model (DOM). The DOM is a tree-like model that defines all of the components on a website. jQuery's purpose is to be both versatile and intuitive to use. jQuery features include DOM manipulation, data and events handling, animations, and more.

2. Anime.js #

Anime.js is a simple and powerful JavaScript animation library with a lightweight API supporting sophisticated animation techniques like overlapping and staggered follow-through. It improves the interactivity and engagement of web pages. Anime.js makes it simple to add effects, interactions, and animations. Anime.js supports all DOM attributes, CSS properties, and JS objects.

3. D3.js #

Data-driven documents (D3) are JavaScript libraries for creating interactive data visualizations with scalable vector graphics (SVG). Suppose you have interacted with a website with a graph, map, histogram, dependency diagram, and pie chart, D3.js probably powering it. D3.js was created in 2011 to generate SVG graphics from data.

Its complex to draw a data visualization by hand. With D3, you write JavaScript to draw the graphic for you programmatically. Labels and controls can then be added to make it interactive. It can interpolate and animate between values as the underlying data changes. As a result, the end-user is presented with a magnificent image.

Chrome developer tools #

Chrome Developer Tools is a complete developer toolkit built into the Chrome browser. These technologies enable you to make real-time changes to web pages, diagnose problems faster, and create better websites quickly.

Chrome developer tools help speed up the debugging process. For instance, if you are stuck on a tricky bug and do not understand why the code is behaving the way it is, chrome dev tools can speed up the feedback process and get the result faster.

The feedback loop is crucial if you do visual work in the browser. It is helpful to see the results of the changes made as quickly as possible. To access the chrome developer tool, right-click an element on the web page and select inspect to jump into the elements tab. Another way to open dev tools is by running "option + command + J" in Mac or "shift + ctrl + J" in Windows.

Gatsby #

GatsbyJS is a React-based, free and open-source framework that helps developers build websites and apps. Gatsby is a static website generator that generates HTML files uploaded to a server.

Gatsby functions uniquely compared to most other websites. On most websites, the website must query a database or execute some programming on the server to display content on web pages. As a static site generator, Gatsby defies this tradition.

A static site generator is a program that uses templates, components, and data to create a website. At build time, it generates static HTML pages depending on those items.

Gatsby is extensible with the help of plugins that aid in getting data from content management systems such as WordPress. It enables you to integrate with tools like Algolia, manage content, and optimize it.

Gulp #

Gulp is a JavaScript task runner toolset for creating JavaScript apps.

Web development has many development tasks such as:

• Running a server.
• Optimizing content.
• Deploying files to servers.
• Minifying scripts and styles.
• Image compressing.
• Cache busing.
• Concatenation.

Gulp is a tool for automating these tasks. Gulp is a JavaScript development tool to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks on websites. Gulp is based on Node.js, and it already has a thriving community that creates plugins to assist with various tasks.

Hundreds of plugins are available here, allowing developers to automate different tasks. Gulp tasks are written in a JavaScript file named gulpfile.js, which Gulp executes.

ECMAScript modules (ESM) #

ECMAScript modules (ESM) is a technique for reusing code in JavaScript introduced in 2015. The main idea behind these JavaScript modules is to import and export different code sections from different files into other files. This allows you to break your code into smaller files, making it easier to understand and reason with later on when you want to change it.

Below is an example of ESM importing and exporting a function. Take a function from a file named index.js:

// index.js
export function funcA() {
  return "funcA export!";
}

export function funcB() {
  return "funcB export!";
}

Suppose we have another file named app.js. This is how you import an ES module function from index.js:

// app.js
import { funcA } from "./index.js";

WebPack #

WebPack is a module bundler that takes different files, JavaScript, images, CSS, and more. It combines different files and bundles them into a smaller group of files. WebPack does much of the work for you as it bundles all your files together.

WebPack enables you to create excellent web applications and manage your JavaScript files.

Features of Webpack include:

• Bundling
• Optimizations by reducing the size and controlling the load at runtime.
• Code splitting. It divides code into many segments to improve loading speed.

NPM #

The Node Package Manager (NPM) is the Node.js default package manager. Node.js is a JavaScript runtime environment for the server-side execution of JavaScript programs. NPM consists of two primary components.

An online platform and the command-line (CLI) tool. The online platform is a section where JavaScript developers can share and upload tools. The CLI tool helps developers interact with the platform. With the CLI tool, you can install packages, manage their versions, and manage the dependent tools.

NPM makes writing code easier because you can rely on pre-built code written by other developers. You can use NPM packages for your projects instead of writing everything. To use the node package, install it on your computer. Thousands of packages are hosted on the NPM website. To learn more about NPM, you can go through this article.

ESLint #

ESLint is a pluggable JavaScript tool that analyzes your code for flaws that could result in bugs or inconsistencies. ESLint has thousands of downloads every week on NPM used by giant tech companies like Microsoft, Google, and Netflix.

ESLint comes with a set of predefined rules, but developers can configure the tool as they wish. This is because each rule is essentially a plugin. To install ESLint, make sure Node.js is installed on your computer.

You may use npm or yarn to install ESLint:

npm install eslint --save-dev

or

yarn add eslint --dev

To create a configuration file, this is how it is done:

npm init @eslint/config

or

yarn create @eslint/config

Vite #

Vite is a JavaScript development tool that significantly improves the front-end development experience. Vite is a swift tool. The problem Vite solves is the feedback loop speed during development. Today most modern browsers natively support ES modules.

This means there is much work that we no longer have to do during development as the browser can handle the work natively. Vite operates faster, loads quickly, and helps the developer get the job done quickly and efficiently.

Conclusion #

There are many JavaScript development tools. This article only covered a number of the most popular and valuable JavaScript tools every developer should know. You learned JavaScript essential tools that JavaScript developers at all levels can use to improve their productivity.

Thank you for reading this article :)

Happy learning!

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Peer Review Contributions by: Briana Nzivu