And for that, there’s an existing package called rimraf. That’s why we need a script that removes files before the fresh transpiled copy enters. Whenever we change something in our code, we feed it to the transpiler, and it outputs a fresh copy every-time. This is where the package called babel shines.īabel takes a js file, converts the code in it, and outputs into a new file. Note that in today’s time, almost 99% of ES6+ syntax can be used in Node.js. ES5 code is the JS syntax style that is readable to node.js, such as module.exports or var module = require('module'). We need a package that translates ES6 and above syntax to ES5 code.

To enable a front-end development-like experience while developing back-end apps, here’s a high level view of the processes happening to your project.

How does it work? A high level view of what we need

Have you ever tried to write front-end apps using ES6 syntax, but then when you decided to learn back-end development with Node.js and Express, you realized that you can’t use stuff like import from and export default? If so, you came to the right place! This is step by step guide on how to configure your dev and prod environments, setup scripts, and as a bonus we’ll learn how to add tests! Table of Contents / Summary of topics

Nodejs es6