Towards a simpler JavaScript ecosystem - Gil Tayar | JSHeroes 2023

The history of the JavaScript ecosystem can be described as a move from a simple ecosystem with no tooling (just write the code and F5!) in the 90s, towards the current wave of massive tooling which nobody understands, but which helps us mitigate the deficiencies in browsers and the internet. Are we stuck there? Writing code for a dynamic language that needs no compiling, and yet surrounding ourselves with extremely complex tooling that we must have to develop significant software? I believe we don’t. I aim to bring a vision that returns full circle to an ecosystem with little to no tooling. It shows that with modern technologies like import maps, web bundles, the type annotations proposal, 103 Early Hints, and others, we can bring back the simplicity of the early ecosystem, while not sacrificing the advantages of the current one. This talk presents this vision, and describes the technologies and techniques that enable this return to simplicity.