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> some people seem to think there's a useful distinction being made

What is that distinction? Excluding the javascript crowd, I doubt this phrase will see extensive use in the field until the term gets properly defined and is meaningfully distinct from the word Compile as used today.

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I assume "javascript crowd" knows how to compile their node binary. Thus, they know the distinction between babeljs and gcc, and therefore they know the distinction between compiler and transpiler.

What's the distinction between Compile and transpile then? and is this distinction agreed upon and meaningful?

I agree with drdrey's definition here[1], which is echoed in paragraph two here[2] as well, which provides you with the agreement part at least. Whether if it is meaningful to you, is up to you.

[1] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16076823 [2] - https://hackernoon.com/moving-to-es6-babel-and-transpilers-3...

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