Delivering First-Class JavaScript

The brand new edition of Web Designer is now on sale! This one contains a little more me than usual (assuming that's a good thing...)

My contribution this issue is all about keeping JavaScript projects in tip-top condition. That can mean anything from keeping third-party modules up to date to making sure tests run without issue.

Pick up a copy and you'll learn all about the different types of testing you could/should be doing in your projects to save time in the long run. While writing many copious unit tests might seem to slow things down in the early days, you'll be glad they're there come the first wave of refactoring.

I'll also go through the ever so slight differences in Webpack 2, so you can make use of the latest version along with its many new features like performance budgets.

Webpack 2 also includes native support for ES2015 import statements, so they no longer have to be transpiled before running through the loaders.

If the previous sentence didn't mean a lot to you, fear not. I aimed to approach these things in a beginner type fashion. If there's anything you didn't understand... well... there's always Google. I'm happy to admit I learned quite a few little bits while researching, so I hope you will too.