What's the current thinking on doing plain JavaScript development?

Question

Is there a current approach to front end development that is pure JavaScript - with absolutely no use of a compiler, no use of webpack or other code processors, and no use of other JavaScript build tools?I'm wanting to know if there's anyone/any group that is doing modern, plain JavaScript with zero of the complexity introduced by the modern build systems.

oldboyFX · Accepted Answer

In the past several years I haven't seen a non-trivial app built without some kind of a build system, but I'm sure there are folks who don't use them.Why are you asking? Learning how to use webpack (for example) can be difficult depending on your background, but once you set everything up it's pretty solid. Plus you could use boilerplates like create-react-app if you're not willing to invest too much time into figuring it out.

stockkid · Answer

I understand why you are curious, because I too often feel encumbered by the complexity of frontend development. I came to conclusion that I can't do much about fighting off the tooling since I have already bought into those. But I can reduce complexity in other ways like reducing dependencies and instead building simple things in-house.