September 28, 2014
Babel transpiler first released
Sebastian McKenzie released 6to5 on September 28, 2014 — a JavaScript transpiler that compiled ES6 syntax to ES5 (later renamed Babel).
What it was for
Babel lets developers write modern JavaScript — arrow functions, classes, modules — and ship code browsers understand today via build plugins. It powers ReactA JavaScript library for building UIs — component trees and declarative rendering for the web., Vue, and NodeNode.js — JavaScript on the server via an event-driven runtime built on V8. toolchains through `@babel/preset-env`. Example: write `const greet = () => 'hi'` and Babel outputs `var greet = function () { return 'hi'; }` for older runtimes.
People
- Sebastian McKenzie — creator
Why it's here
Babel let the ecosystem adopt new ECMAScriptThe standardized specification for JavaScript — ES3, ES6, and later editions define the language. features years before engines caught up.
Why it mattered
It became the compiler layer behind every major frontend build pipeline of the 2010s.
What it solved
Browsers lagged behind the ES6 spec; teams could not ship modern syntax without manual rewrites.
Media
- ImageBabel (transcompiler)
Henry Zhu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Related
- JavaScript ES6 standardizedJune 17, 2015
- TypeScript preview releasedOctober 1, 2012
- webpack first releasedMarch 10, 2012
- ESLint first releasedJuly 16, 2013
- Rollup first releasedMay 21, 2015