• Introduction • Bun as an all-in-one toolkit • Bun as a JavaScript runtime • TypeScript and JSX Support • Bun as a Bundler • JavaScript Macros in Bun • Conclusion

Introduction

Are you tired of the slow and complex nature of JavaScript tooling? Introducing Bun: the fast, all-in-one toolkit for running, building, testing, and debugging JavaScript and TypeScript. Bun's goal is to eliminate unnecessary slowness and complexity without sacrificing the great features of JavaScript. It's a drop-in replacement for Node.js, so your favorite libraries and frameworks should still work. You won't need to unlearn your current conventions, but you will need to unlearn the many tools that Bun makes unnecessary. What are the benefits of using Bun? For one, it's compatible with Node.js, making it a reliable choice for developers. The toolkit provides a best-in-class developer experience, from performance to API design. Plus, it's lightning-fast, starting up to 4x faster than Node.js. Upgrade your toolkit with Bun and say goodbye to unnecessary tooling and welcome an all-in-one solution that is sure to make your life easier.

Bun as an all-in-one toolkit

What's wrong with current JavaScript tooling? It's just too darn complicated! There are layers and layers of tooling that have accumulated on top of each other over the years. As a result, JavaScript tooling has become slow, complex and fragility-prone. Oh, and let's not forget the load of redundant work that many tools perform, leading to poor developer experience. Enter Bun. A single, integrated toolkit, Bun eliminates the problems that arise from using multiple integration tools together. With best-in-class developer experience that enhances performance and API design, using Bun means no more wasting time figuring out what's wrong with the combination of tools you're using. Instead, you get a fast, all-in-one toolkit that can replace many unnecessary tools such as nodemon, webpack, jest, babel, rollup, and isomorphic-fetch. That's right! Bun's goal is to eliminate slowness and complexity without throwing away all the awesomeness of JavaScript. Moreover, using Bun means you don't have to unlearn any of the conventions you're used to. Instead, your favorite libraries and frameworks will still work seamlessly with Bun. And if that wasn't enough, developing with Bun is simply more fun! Embrace the simplicity of Bun and say goodbye to the unnecessary complications of outdated JavaScript tooling.

Bun as a JavaScript runtime

What sets Bun apart from other toolkits is its blistering speed. It's designed to make software development easier, faster, and more enjoyable, which is a breath of fresh air in an industry where time is of the essence. Bun is a drop-in replacement for Node.js, making it compatible with existing Node.js applications and npm packages. Bun has built-in support for Node APIs, including built-in modules like fs, path, and net, globals like __dirname and process, as well as the Node.js module resolution algorithm. Bun tests against the most popular Node.js packages on npm, including server frameworks like Express, Koa, and Hapi. It even supports applications built with popular full-stack frameworks. Overall, if you're running Node.js, there's a good chance Bun can run your code too. But the real advantage of using Bun is its speed. Starting up to 4x faster than Node.js, it's a noticeable difference. Running a TypeScript file is even faster thanks to Bun's built-in TypeScript transpiler. It can run virtually any Node.js application in the wild and has been tested against the most popular packages on npm, resulting in a no brainer choice for developers. Therefore, Bun isn't just faster than Node.js. It's faster than package managers like npm or yarn when running scripts. Bun's speed improves the developer experience and saves precious time. Plus, it's built using WebKit, the same engine that powers Safari, with TypeScript, and JSX support baked in, and a JavaScript transpiler included. Bun's performance is better than others, making the development process a lot more fun.

TypeScript and JSX Support

Bun aims to simplify the tooling ecosystem while retaining everything great about JavaScript. Bun includes a built-in JavaScript transpiler that can run JavaScript, TypeScript, and even JSX/TSX files. This built-in support implies you won't need external tools such as babel, ts-node, and whatnot. The seamless integration with Bun's other features allows you to use JavaScript macros that add compiled-time code transformations. How does Bun compare to existing transpilers, you ask? Running a performance benchmark of transpiling 33 React components shows that Bun is 1.65x faster than babel, and 1.77x faster than tsc and rollup. This performance boost combined with the ease of use ensures that Bun is your go-to solution for JavaScript and TypeScript-based projects.

Bun as a Bundler

Bun is more than just a runtime. It also acts as a bundler, allowing developers to bundle their code for the web and other platforms using its CLI. Bun's plugin API is heavily inspired by esbuild and is compatible with the runtime and the bundler. This feature enables developers to use the .yaml plugin and support .yaml imports during bundling. Compared to other bundlers, Bun is faster, leaner, and provides better performance. According to esbuild's benchmarks, Bun is 1.75x faster than esbuild, 150x faster than Parcel 2, 180x faster than Rollup + Terser, and 220x faster than Webpack. Bundling 10 copies of three.js with sourcemaps and minification proves much faster and responsive to test. Its ability to bundle code for other platforms makes Bun unique in the market. It's a best-in-class tool that optimizes file size and runtime performance by checking the code in real-time. The number of redundant tasks performed while using other tools is significantly reduced when using Bun's plugin API. With Bun as a bundler, you can ensure an efficient and optimized developer experience.

JavaScript Macros in Bun

JavaScript Macros in Bun Bun introduces the concept of 'JavaScript macros', a feature that's bound to change the way JavaScript is written. Macros are essentially JavaScript functions that Bun runs during the bundle-time. The most significant advantage of macros is that they help programmers make their code more efficient by generating performant code that's unique to their projects. Bun's macro system is entirely different from other macro systems. Instead of operating on the code, Bun's macros directly generate inlining code. Since the inlined code is part of the bundle, it's faster and efficient. Additionally, Bun's macros ensure that code remains, user-controlled and does not generate verbose codes that one can hardly make sense of. Overall, macros enhance the power of Bun's bundle system, making it easier to write code faster and more efficiently. By offering JS macros, Bun has provided developers with an unparalleled level of flexibility, empowering them to create better-quality code.

Conclusion

In summary, Bun is an all-in-one toolkit that eliminates the complexities of JavaScript tooling while retaining everything that's great about JavaScript. It is a fast JavaScript runtime with built-in support for Node APIs and can run virtually any Node.js application in the wild. With its universal plugin API, Bun is a powerful bundler that is 1.75x faster than esbuild and provides unmatched performance. Its implementation of JavaScript macros provides a mechanism for running JavaScript functions at bundle-time. Future potentials of Bun are enormous in changing the landscape of JavaScript tooling. So, what are you waiting for? Join the Bun community now!