Introduction to Babel-Polyfill and WhatWG-Fetch

Babel-Polyfill is a JavaScript library that provides a set of standard JavaScript features to older browsers that do not support the latest ECMAScript features. While WhatWG-Fetch is a polyfill for the global fetch function that allows you to make XMLHttpRequests in a more standard, promise-based way.

What is Babel-Polyfill?

Some web browsers don't support the latest syntax additions to the JavaScript language such as Promise, Map, and Set. To fix this, developers translate that latest code into code that browsers can read through a process called transpiling. Babel is a popular transpiler that takes code written in the latest versions of JavaScript and transpiles it into older versions. Babel-Polyfill is an optional package that adds support for newer JavaScript APIs into older browsers.

What is WhatWG-Fetch?

Fetch is a browser API for loading resources such as JavaScript scripts or HTML fragments via HTTP requests. Fetch makes it easier to make web requests and handle responses than older APIs like XMLHttpRequest. However, fetch is not supported by all web browsers. WhatWG-Fetch is a polyfill that brings the fetch function to browsers that don't natively support it.

How to Use Babel-Polyfill and WhatWG-Fetch?

First, you need to install them as dependencies in your project using your preferred package manager, like NPM or Yarn. Next, you can import the packages in your JavaScript code. Importing Babel-Polyfill takes one line of code:

import 'babel-polyfill';

For WhatWG-Fetch, you only need to add a single line of code to your JavaScript file to import the polyfill:

import 'whatwg-fetch';

Conclusion

In conclusion, Babel-Polyfill and WhatWG-Fetch are essential libraries for developers who wish to write code in the latest versions of JavaScript and ensure compatibility with older browsers. These libraries extend browser compatibility and allow developers to use modern language features without worrying about browser support.