• Grunt, Gulp, and Webpack are popular build tools in the JavaScript ecosystem, and they are used to automate various tasks in the development workflow.
• Grunt:
  • Grunt is one of the earliest build tools in the JavaScript ecosystem.
  • It uses a configuration-driven approach, where you define tasks and their configurations in Gruntfile.js.
  • Grunt tasks are typically defined using plugins that encapsulate specific functionalities like file copying, minification, and more.
  • The configuration-driven approach can lead to lengthy and hard-to-maintain configurations for complex tasks.
  • Performance can be an issue for large projects with many tasks.
• Gulp:
  • It uses a code-over-configuration approach.
  • It leverages Node.js streams, which allows developers to define tasks using JavaScript code rather than configuration files.
  • Gulp focuses on simplicity and performance by leveraging the power of streams.
  • It has fewer plugins than Grunt, although it has a considerable ecosystem.
  • Configuring complex tasks may require more effort than straightforward configurations in Grunt.
• Webpack:
  • Webpack is a powerful module bundler mainly used for modern JavaScript applications, including front-end applications like React, Vue, and Angular.
  • Webpack analyzes and processes the dependencies in your project and bundles them into static assets like JavaScript, CSS, and images.
  • Code splitting: Webpack enables code splitting, which helps optimize loading performance by splitting the code into smaller chunks.
  • It is more complex to set up and configure than Grunt or Gulp and has a steeper learning curve for beginners, especially when dealing with advanced configurations and features.

Grunt Template

module.exports = function(grunt) {

  // Project configuration.
  grunt.initConfig({
    pkg: grunt.file.readJSON('package.json'),
    uglify: {
      options: {
        banner: '/*! <%= pkg.name %> <%= grunt.template.today("yyyy-mm-dd") %> */\\n'
      },
      build: {
        src: 'src/<%= pkg.name %>.js',
        dest: 'build/<%= pkg.name %>.min.js'
      }
    }
  });

  // Load the plugin that provides the "uglify" task.
  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-uglify');

  // Default task(s).
  grunt.registerTask('default', ['uglify']);

};

Gulp Template

• Each gulp task is an asynchronous JavaScript function.
• The function that accepts an error-first callback or returns a stream, promise, event emitter, child process, or observable.
• Due to some platform limitations, synchronous tasks aren't supported. Gulp has a pretty nifty alternative, though.

Exporting

• Tasks can be considered public or private.
  • Public tasks are exported from your gulpfile, which allows them to be run by the gulp command.
  • Private tasks are made to be used internally, usually used as part of series() or parallel() composition.
• A private task looks and acts like any other task, but an end-user can't ever execute it independently. To register a task publicly, export it from your gulpfile.

const { series } = require('gulp');

// The `clean` function is not exported so it can be considered a private task.
// It can still be used within the `series()` composition.
function clean(cb) {
  // body omitted
  cb();
}

// The `build` function is exported so it is public and can be run with the `gulp` command.
// It can also be used within the `series()` composition.
function build(cb) {
  // body omitted
  cb();
}

exports.build = build;
exports.default = series(clean, build);

Compose Tasks

• Gulp provides two powerful composition methods, series() and parallel(), allowing individual tasks to be composed into larger operations.
• Both methods accept any number of task functions or composed operations. series() and parallel() can be nested within themselves or each other to any depth.
• To have your tasks execute in order, use the series() method.

const { series } = require('gulp');

function transpile(cb) {
  // body omitted
  cb();
}

function bundle(cb) {
  // body omitted
  cb();
}

exports.build = series(transpile, bundle);

• For tasks to run at maximum concurrency, combine them with the parallel() method.