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Remember jikes - the java compiler written in c (or something)?

I think writing build tools for JavaScript in anything other than JavaScript (or language that compiles to js) is a dead end.

How would you write a plug-in to this? Or a programmatic configuration. So much gained from staying on js.

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On the flip side, it’s very hard (sometimes impossible) to make highly performant abstractions in JavaScript, which makes it difficult to make fast tools which do complex work. Most JS-based programs choose to either be fast and difficult to program, or easy to program but slow.

The advantage of having an incredibly fast build tool can already be seen with Vite and esbuild, which hot-reload modules at speed. Fast tools can change the way work is done.

I doubt it; most speed improvements comes from taking a different approach (ie. caching or ignoring time consuming typechecks), not a difference in the speed of language or platform.

My point is not that it’s impossible to write fast JavaScript, it is that creating performant abstractions is very hard in JavaScript. So performant code ends up not using many abstractions, and becomes difficult to write and maintain. Or well-abstracted code which is easy to write and maintain is slow.

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