Gulp


The streaming build system


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Streams












Your application is not a big truck - it's a series of tubes





We should have some ways of connecting programs like garden hose--screw in another segment when it becomes necessary to massage data in another way. This is the way of IO also.
- Doug McIlroy


Streams come to us from the earliest days of unix and have proven themselves over the decades as a dependable way to compose large systems out of small components that do one thing well.

You can then plug the output of one stream to the input of another and use libraries that operate abstractly on streams to institute higher-level flow control.
- substack

Understanding flow control is what makes you a programmer


Read a comprehensive overview of streams by substack



Learning new flow control techniques will make you more efficient






Why streams?
















Picture a build system in your head.

(It should take in files, modify them, and output the new ones)

You pictured this

You didn't picture this







Grunt











What's so bad?


  • Plugins do multiple things
    • Want a banner? Use the javascript minifier
  • Plugins do things that don't need to be plugins
    • Need to run your tests? Use a plugin
  • Grunt config format is a mess that tries to do everything
    • Not idiomatic with "the node way"
  • Headache of temp files/folders due to bad flow control


Your build system should empower not impede

It should only manipulate files - let other libraries handle the rest.

Sample Gruntfile

 module.exports = function(grunt) {

  grunt.initConfig({
    pkg: grunt.file.readJSON('package.json'),
    concat: {
      options: {
        separator: ';'
      },
      dist: {
        src: ['src/**/*.js'],
        dest: 'dist/<%= pkg.name %>.js'
      }
    },
    uglify: {
      options: {
        banner: '/*! <%= pkg.name %> <%= grunt.template.today("dd-mm-yyyy") %> */\n'
      },
      dist: {
        files: {
          'dist/<%= pkg.name %>.min.js': ['<%= concat.dist.dest %>']
        }
      }
    },
    qunit: {
      files: ['test/**/*.html']
    },
    jshint: {
      files: ['gruntfile.js', 'src/**/*.js', 'test/**/*.js'],
      options: {
        // options here to override JSHint defaults
        globals: {
          jQuery: true,
          console: true,
          module: true,
          document: true
        }
      }
    },
    watch: {
      files: ['<%= jshint.files %>'],
      tasks: ['jshint', 'qunit']
    }
  });

  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-uglify');
  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-jshint');
  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-qunit');
  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-watch');
  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-concat');

  grunt.registerTask('test', ['jshint', 'qunit']);

  grunt.registerTask('default', ['jshint', 'qunit', 'concat', 'uglify']);

};
  1. Runs tests
  2. Lints code
  3. Concats javascript
  4. Minifies it
  5. Runs again if files are changed

Switching



Sample Gulpfile

var gulp = require('gulp');
var pkg = require('./package.json');
var concat = require('gulp-concat');
var minify = require('gulp-minify');
var jshint = require('gulp-jshint');
var spawn = require('child_process').spawn;

var scriptFiles = './src/**/*.js';

gulp.task('compile', function(){
  // concat all scripts, minify, and output
  gulp.src(scriptFiles)
    .pipe(concat({fileName: pkg.name+".js"})
    .pipe(minify())
    .pipe(gulp.dest('./dist/'));
});

gulp.task('test', function(){
  // lint our scripts
  gulp.src(scriptFiles).pipe(jshint());
  
  // run our tests
  spawn('npm', ['test'], {stdio: 'inherit'});
});
    
gulp.task('default', function(){
  gulp.run('test', 'compile');
  gulp.watch(scriptFiles, function(){
    gulp.run('test', 'compile');
  });
});
  1. Runs tests
  2. Lints code
  3. Concats javascript
  4. Minifies it
  5. Runs again if files are changed

What's the difference?


  • With Gulp your build file is code, not config
  • You use standard libraries to do things
  • Plugins are simple and do one thing - most are a ~20 line function
  • Tasks are executed with maximum concurrency
  • I/O works the way you picture it

Gulp does nothing but provide some streams and a basic task system


Gulp has only 5 functions you need to learn




gulp.task(name, fn)



It registers the function with a name.

You can optionally specify some dependencies if other tasks need to run first.


gulp.run(tasks...)





Runs all tasks with maximum concurrency

gulp.watch(glob, fn)




Runs a function when a file that matches the glob changes


Included in core for simplicity

gulp.src(glob)


This returns a readable stream.

Takes a file system glob (like grunt) and starts emitting files that match.


This is piped to other streams

gulp.dest(folder)


This returns a writable stream

File objects piped to this are saved to the file system





Congratulations



You are now a Gulp expert





For guides on how to make your own plugins check the README

Links








Questions?

Gulp

By Eric Schoffstall

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Gulp

Streaming build systems

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