+2

Compile-on-save for Pre-Processor languages

Del Fan 4 years ago 0

It's impossible to do any web development nowadays without using a pre=processor language - and if we use any of the common frontend frameworks, then it's a MUST. The most common ones are:

  • LESS and SCSS - no frontend developer worth their salt codes directly in CSS, unless forced
  • Markdown, if working with static site generators and blogs
  • Pug and HAML - if working with Node-based CMSs and frameworks
  • Coffescript and Typescript - if working with high-level JS libraries like Vue, React and Angular

The developer then needs to have a whole bunch of tools installed in their system, just to handle all the compilation. If they want to try and do it in a 'nice and graphical' way, they'll end up having to buy multiple tools (like Marked, CodeKit and others), and juggle them as they code. Otherwise, they have to install Node, webpack, grunt/gulp and the like, and spend months learning. 

I know this is a very big request, but if Textastic were to be able to COMPILE these languages out-of-the-box, without requiring the developer to instal or learn anything else, that would put it waaaaay ahead of everyone else.