Understanding Polyfills and Transpilers in the JavaScript ecosystem
Jul 06, 2025 am 02:04 AMPolyfill is used to simulate the behavior of new APIs and is suitable for dealing with features that are not supported by old browsers such as Promise; Transpiler, such as Babel, converts the new syntax into old version code, which is suitable for syntax compatibility issues such as arrow functions. The two are often used in combination, such as using Babel to translate syntax and core-js to complete the API. Reasonable choice can take into account compatibility and performance.
The JavaScript ecosystem is developing very fast, but the browser's support speed often cannot keep up with the updates of the language itself. This brings about compatibility issues - the new syntax cannot run in the old environment. To solve this problem, polyfills and transpilers have become indispensable tools in modern front-end development.

What is Polyfill?
Polyfill is a piece of code used to "fill" function gaps in browsers that do not support a certain feature. It does not change the language itself, but simulates the behavior that new features should have.

For example, Array.from()
is a method introduced by ES6 and does not exist in the old version of IE. If you use it in these browsers, an error will be reported. At this time, introducing a polyfill can keep your code running.
Common practices are:

- Use libraries like core-js or polyfill.io to inject polyfill on demand
- Import polyfill uniformly at the project entrance (for example
import 'core-js/stable'
)
It should be noted that polyfill is not omnipotent. Some features (such as Proxy) are almost impossible to simulate perfectly, so you have to consider whether to give up supporting certain environments.
How does Transpiler work?
Transpiler's function is to convert higher versions of JavaScript into equivalent lower versions of code. The most typical example is Babel , which converts ES6 code to ES5, so that old browsers can understand it too.
Let's give a simple example:
// Original code const add = (a, b) => ab;
After Babel conversion, it will become:
// Translated code "use strict"; var add = function add(a, b) { return ab; };
The benefits of Transpiler are obvious: You can use the latest syntax with confidence without worrying about compatibility issues. However, the cost is that the construction process becomes more complex and the output code may also become larger.
Some points to note when using transpiler:
- Configure
@babel/preset-env
and select the target browser range to avoid excessive translation - Use with polyfill to ensure that the operating environment has the required features
- Don't blindly translate everything. Maintaining a certain level of modernity will also help performance
When to use Polyfill? When to use Transpiler?
Although both of these tools are used for compatibility processing, they solve different problems.
- If you use a new API (such as
Promise
,Array.from
,Object.assign
), you need polyfill to simulate. - If you use new syntax (such as arrow functions, let/const, class), you need to convert them into old syntax.
In actual development, the two are often used in conjunction. For example, translate the grammar through Babel and then complete the missing API through core-js.
In addition, if your project is only for modern browsers (such as mobile or Electron applications), you can also skip these two steps and write modern JS directly, so that the code is simpler and load faster.
Basically that's it. The rational use of polyfill and transferr can ensure compatibility without sacrificing development experience and performance.
The above is the detailed content of Understanding Polyfills and Transpilers in the JavaScript ecosystem. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

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