Babel (transcompiler)
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.
| Original author(s) | Sebastian McKenzie |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Contributors |
| Initial release | September 28, 2014 |
| Stable release | 7.23.8
/ January 8, 2024 |
| Repository | |
| Written in | JavaScript |
| Operating system | Linux, macOS, Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, AIX, Microsoft Windows |
| Type | Compiler |
| License | MIT |
| Website | babeljs |
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. Babel can also be used to compile TypeScript into JavaScript. 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.
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. Non-standard JavaScript syntax such as JSX can also be transformed.
Babel can automatically inject polyfills provided by core-js 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.