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Backpack vs Webpack: What are the differences?
## Key Differences between Backpack and Webpack
Backpack is a simple build tool that focuses on bundling files for development purposes, whereas Webpack is a more powerful module bundler that can handle various assets beyond just JavaScript files.
Backpack's configuration is minimal and focuses on convention over configuration, making it easier for developers to get started quickly, while Webpack requires more configuration and setup to handle complex use cases and customization.
Backpack has a built-in development server that supports hot module replacement out of the box, providing a seamless development experience, whereas Webpack requires additional plugins and configuration to enable similar functionality.
Backpack is mainly targeted towards small to medium-sized projects with simpler build requirements, whereas Webpack is better suited for large-scale projects with more complex build needs and optimization requirements.
Backpack is lightweight and fast, making it ideal for rapid prototyping and smaller projects, while Webpack's extensive feature set and flexibility make it a better choice for enterprise-level applications with advanced requirements.
Backpack integrates seamlessly with Babel and PostCSS for transpiling and processing CSS, making it convenient for modern web development workflows, whereas Webpack also supports these tools but requires more configuration and setup to achieve the same level of integration.
In Summary, Backpack and Webpack cater to different needs - Backpack is a lightweight and simple build tool suitable for smaller projects, while Webpack is a more comprehensive module bundler geared towards larger and more complex applications.
The developer experience Webpack gave us was not delighting anyone. It works and is stable and consistent. It is also slow and frustrating. We decided to check out Vite as an alternative when moving to Vue 3 and have been amazed. It is very early in development and there are plenty of rough edges, but it has been a breath of fresh air not waiting for anything to update. It is so fast we have found ourselves using devtools in browser less because changing styles is just as fast in code. We felt confident using the tool because although it is early in its development, the production build is still provided by Rollup which is a mature tool. We also felt optimistic that as good as it is right now, it will only continue to get better, as it is being worked on very actively. So far we are really happy with the choice.
I could define the next points why we have to migrate:
- Decrease build time of our application. (It was the main cause).
- Also
jspm installtakes much more time thannpm install. - Many config files for SystemJS and JSPM. For Webpack you can use just one main config file, and you can use some separate config files for specific builds using inheritance and merge them.
We mostly use rollup to publish package onto NPM. For most all other use cases, we use the Meteor build tool (probably 99% of the time) for publishing packages. If you're using Node on FHIR you probably won't need to know rollup, unless you are somehow working on helping us publish front end user interface components using FHIR. That being said, we have been migrating away from Atmosphere package manager towards NPM. As we continue to migrate away, we may publish other NPM packages using rollup.
Pros of Backpack
- Great docs6
- Zero-config4
- Easy setup4
Pros of Webpack
- Most powerful bundler309
- Built-in dev server with livereload182
- Can handle all types of assets142
- Easy configuration87
- Laravel-mix22
- Overengineered, Underdeveloped4
- Makes it easy to bundle static assets2
- Webpack-Encore2
- Redundant1
- Better support in Browser Dev-Tools1
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Cons of Backpack
Cons of Webpack
- Hard to configure15
- No clear direction5
- Spaghetti-Code out of the box2
- SystemJS integration is quite lackluster2
- Loader architecture is quite a mess (unreliable/buggy)2
- Fire and Forget mentality of Core-Developers2
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What is Backpack?
What is Webpack?
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