Things To Consider

Nowadays more and more web developers are choosing to use JavaScript both for the front end and the back end for their applications. The advent of single page apps and MV* JavaScript frameworks has also brought a large number of tools to the table. One kind of these tools are task runners.

What these task runners do is that they automate repetitive tasks. Minification, compilation, unit testing, linting etc… These help developers tremendously by saving their time and energy.

A good task runner should complete it’s tasks as fast as possible so as not to waste time. The most popular task runners have a lot of plugins which can make it even easier to complete almost every task that a developer may need.

Some task runners can configure their tasks by using JavaScript objects with instructions on how these tasks should run, others make use of actual JavaScript functions to run these instructions. With task runners that choose a configuration style it’s hard to understand what is really happening since everything is running under the hood. On the other hand, task runners that use a coding over configuration style make it easier for the developer to understand what is really happening.

Another important point in choosing a task runner is it’s processing method. The first method is file-based, which means that files are used as units of work. Temporary files are created, edited and deleted by the task runner in intermediate steps of the process. The other method is by using the pipeline; files are connected together and processed in the machine’s memory through the processing steps.