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What is the best alternative to Yeoman?
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Gulp
All
17
Experiences
Pros
11
Cons
5
Specs
Top
Pro
Large plugin ecosystem
Currently gulp offers a selection of 1000+ plugins and it is growing rapidly.
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Con
Dead
Gulp is dead, hasn't been updated in 4 years.
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Pro
Focuses on code instead of configuration
This depends on your style, but gulp is closer to the code, the actual execution isn't hidden by multiple layers and it's much easier to customize the build system without writing bloated modules. This also brings rather small configuration files.
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Con
Rapidly changing API
While it's good that the gulp maintainers want the api to be as good as possible, it comes at the expense of stability. The upcoming gulp 4.0 release has another update to the way dependency management works which will require everyone to update their build scripts. It also makes it hard to look up information on best practices as the best practices keep changing, making a lot of the blog posts and questions about gulp out of date.
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Pro
Allows creating task dependencies
Any task can be set to have other tasks as dependencies. The dependencies are specified through piping streams, and tasks run concurrently if they do not block in dependencies.
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Con
You need to know some limitations that are not very intuitive
There are some features in Gulp which may not be very intuitive, or that otherwise should have been the default features instead of having to implement them through arguments. For example, to keep the correct folder structure when you are copying a file, you have to add {base: "lib/"} as an argument.
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Pro
It is possible to use projects that use streams without plugins
Since Gulp just uses streams at its core, you don't actually need a plugin wrapper to use a project that uses streams. If you use this approach, the you don't even have to worry about plugin maintenance at all, and get the bleeding edge updates as soon as they come out even if the plugin hasn't been updated. It also means if a project happens to not have a plugin, you don't need to write a new one, you can just use it as is.
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Con
No incremental building
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Pro
Streaming build system makes it easier to apply code transformations
In gulp, it's easy to pipe multiple steps together which you commonly need with build systems. For example, you may need to compile the javascript source files, then package them together, and then minify it. The streaming system makes this much easier. Additionally, it improves performance since all operations are done in memory (compared to I/O operations) and avoids the need of unnecessarily compiling files (compared to Grunt that has to compile all files even if just one has changed).
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Con
Not suited for big and complex apps
Writing gulpfile for complex app which consists of many source types is very cumbersome and flawy process. You'll know when you want to move to webpack.
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Pro
Chaining API that's simple and elegant
In Gulp, the transforms are performed through chains which makes it easier to understand the order of operations, and easier to modify it.
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Pro
Concurrency allows for high-speed perfomance
Because streams in Gulp use pipes to establish dependency order, they are parallel by default without having to rely on plugins or hacks.
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Pro
Minimizes disk operations for improved performance
Because Gulp is built using streams, it can store intermediate transformations in memory and defer writing to disk until the very end. This improves performance by not requiring expensive blocking disk operations for task dependencies.
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Pro
The configuration file is easily readable
Gulp's configuration file is actually very readable because it's actual JavaScript instead of a large file of JSON objects. The entry barrier is very low for developers who have never used a task runner before and it's API is very simple, with only 4 methods.
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Pro
Gulp modules are usable without Gulp
Because Gulp is built on top of the streaming API, you don't actually need gulp to use them. This could be helpful if you want to re-use those modules outside of gulp, possibly for testing, and using the same modules would be more consistent.
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Pro
Gulp tasks run from terminal
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Specs
Task instruction style:
code
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Experiences
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110
12
Webpack
All
11
Experiences
Pros
9
Cons
2
Top
Pro
Rich and flexible plugin infrastructure
Plugins and loaders are easy to write and allow you to control each step of the build, from loading and compiling CoffeeScript, LESS and JADE files to smart post processing and asset manifest building.
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Con
Config file may be hard to understand 
Due to a somewhat hard to grasp syntax, configuring Webpack may take some time.
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Pro
Tap into npm's huge module ecosystem
Using Webpack opens you up to npm, that has over 80k modules of which a great amount work both client-side and server-side. And the list is growing rapidly.
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Con
Can not load files discovered during runtime
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Pro
Can create a single bundle or multiple chunks loaded on demand, to reduce initial loading time
Webpack allows you to split your codebase into multiple chunks. Chunks are loaded on demand. This reduces the initial loading time.
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Pro
Supports source maps for easier debugging
Source maps allow for easier debugging, because they allow you to find the problems within the origin files instead of the output file.
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Pro
ES6 module support
Webpack supports ES6 modules and their import and export methods without having to compile them to CommonJS require
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Pro
Share the same modules client-side and server-side
Because Webpack allows you to use the same require() function as node.js, you can easily share modules between the client-side and server-side.
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Pro
Bundles CommonJs and AMD modules (even combined)
Webpack supports AMD and CommonJS module styles. It performs clever static analysis on the AST of your code. It even has an evaluation engine to evaluate simple expressions. This allows you to support most existing libraries.
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Pro
Mix ES6 AMD and CommonJS
Webpack supports using all three module types, even in the same file.
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Pro
Limit plugin integration issues
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Experiences
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107
17
Slush
All
6
Experiences
Pros
5
Cons
1
Top
Pro
Interactively set up projects with the Inquirer module
Slush scaffolds can use Inquirer to get CLI input for setting up projects.
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Con
Still young with few generators available
Slush is still young compared to Yeoman. Although it has quite a few generators made by third parties and it's quite easy to make one yourself. It still has fewer generators than older alternatives.
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Pro
Built from the ground up to work with Gulp
Because Slush is built around streams and designed to work best with Gulp. It allows you to get the benefits of a streaming build system without having to manage the components yourself.
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Pro
Easier to maintain scaffolding through code
Because Slush is built on Gulp which puts code before configuration, scaffolding can be done in a simpler more straightforward way. Creating scaffolding through configuration requires more knowledge about the scaffold's specific implementation and remembering documentation, whereas doing it in code is more self explanatory and requires less domain knowledge to get others up to speed.
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Pro
Scaffolds are easier to hook up together
Because all Slush scaffolds share the commonality of streams, it's easier to combine them through that common interface. With configuration based workflow wrappers, different components may have specific implementations that can cause problems with interoperability. With streams, there's better encapsulation of functionality, making it harder to mess up a scaffold leading to better compatibility.
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Pro
Own 'repository' of different project templates
Slush has a well cataloged collection of scaffolds created for it by the community, providing a large collection of workflows prebuilt for almost any task you might want to perform. You can view the list of generators here.
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15
0
CodeKit
All
14
Experiences
Pros
11
Cons
3
Top
Pro
Everything is set up for you
Everything you need to get a project started is included with CodeKit. Thanks to the professional support, different components of the workflow pipeline are guaranteed to play nicely with each other without you needing to do the research on how to configure them. More advanced features that may require extra configuration to set up with other workflow wrappers are set up out of the box in CodeKit, like automatic browser updating, linting, and source maps.
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Con
Mac only
This is a major problem for larger teams that have varied development environments.
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Pro
Provides a clean and modern GUI
CodeKit has a clean and intuitive graphical user interface out of the box. Most other tools in this category run as command line utilities or require unsupported third-party plugins to run with a GUI. The CodeKit GUI makes it easier to navigate and manage the various components of your project with helpful UIs like dropdowns, and views that provide extra details without having to run a separate command.
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Con
Confined
You get only the tools that are provided by the application.
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Pro
Live browser updating built in
CodeKit has live updating built in and will update monitored files across multiple browsers and devices, and refresh CSS without a new page load. Other workflow wrappers have live updating, but they require extra configuration. With CodeKit, everything is set up for you so you can get it up and running in no time at all.
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Con
Proprietary
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Pro
Interactively define how files compile with a GUI
You can navigate your project directory, and use a menu form to set up how it gets compiled without needing to read configuration documentation, or deal with configuration errors. On top of that, file watching and recompilation is built in with no extra configuration needed.
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Pro
Great value for money
At a one time cost of $29, it's a great deal considering how powerful and easy to use it is.
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Pro
Visual package management with Bower
CodeKit provides a clean GUI for Bower that makes it easier to navigate and get information about modules without having to deal with a command line interface.
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Pro
Connects with MAMP
You can use it to, for example, live-update server-side PHP by establishing a connection with your local MAMP server.
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Pro
Don't have to worry about vendor prefixes due to Autoprefixer support
Autoprefixer automagically adds vendor prefixes based on latest information.
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Pro
Reduces size of compressed images
CodeKit provides a powerful tool to automatically reduce the size of compressed images and production web code.
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Pro
Live pre-processor and script compilation
CodeKit supports live compilation of Less, Sass, Stylus, Jade, Haml, Slim, CoffeeScript, JavaScript and Compass including automatic debugging and minification.
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Pro
Has over 6k componenets
Install 6,000+ Bower components with a single click: Bootstrap, jQuery, Modernizr, Zurb Foundation, even WordPress.
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Experiences
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51
1
Lineman
All
9
Experiences
Pros
8
Cons
1
Top
Pro
Comes with a full-featured test runner
Lineman integrates a powerful test runner - Test'em. By default it will test against PhantomJS and output in TAP13 format.
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Con
By trying it do everything by itself it has become a monolithic software
Lineman tries to minimize the work that the developer has to do but in doing so, it has become a complicated monolith of a software built on top of Grunt tasks. It would be easier and more minimalistic and maintainable for a developer to just create the Gruntfile themselves.
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Pro
Opinionated workflow
While Lineman is hands off when it comes to what you do on the client side, the workflow and tools used around it are opinionated, which means there's less to set up, the tools picked are fine tuned to work together, and you can get up and running faster without having to decide between dozens of tools. While it means less flexibility with the tools you use, it also means that advanced features are built in and available from the start, and you can focus on building the client side, without worrying about the tools around it.
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Pro
Intelligent defaults
Although Lineman is fully configurable, it comes with well tuned defaults and a built in scaffold so you can get up and running with advanced features quickly with things like continuous integration and live reloading with less or no configuration.
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Pro
Client-side framework agnostic
Lineman prides itself on avoiding assumptions on how things should be done and allows for greater freedom in tool choice. It generates a skeletal app, with no example code. Yet if you choose, you can get templates for Backbone, Ember, Angular and other frameworks.
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Pro
Provides project structure without code generation
Lineman is designed against code generation, which is a good thing as generated code requires more maintenance to keep library code in sync with the generated code, and is dangerous to use if you don't fully understand what the generated code is doing.
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Pro
Flexible build system with Grunt
While the tools Lineman uses are opinionated, the build process is not as it uses Grunt, so you can get the benefits of a well tuned workflow while still being able to use whatever compiled languages and build process you want. Also, since Lineman handles the tasks outside of compilation and file transformation for you, you can keep your gruntfile simpler and easier to maintain as it would be dedicated to just the build system, and not other task management.
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Pro
Update your tools without breaking the configuration
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Pro
Free and open source
Licensed under MIT.
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Experiences
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7
0
RocketCake
All
6
Experiences
Pros
5
Specs
Top
Pro
Offline
You can work offline as RocketCake is an installable Windows or Mac application. It's also possible to publish on a local disk first before uploading to a webserver.
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Pro
Wysiwyg
No need for coding.
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Pro
Mobile support
Support for e.g. iPhone 8, iPhone 7+, iPhone 8+, iPhone X, Samsung Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, LG G4, LG G5.
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Pro
PHP and ASP support
It's possible to use PHP or ASP to create dynamic websites.
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Pro
Templates
15 free templates to choose from.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Mac
WYSIWYG:
Yes
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Free / paid
16
1
Mocha
All
9
Experiences
Pros
7
Cons
2
Top
Pro
Supports different assertion libraries
Mocha runs independently from the assertion library, so you can choose which assertion format works best for you. Mocha most often is run in combination with assertion library Chai.
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Con
Can be intimidating for beginners
While some testing frameworks are complete out of the box, Mocha requires developers to select and set up assertion libraries and mocking utilities. For someone who is just starting to learn how to build tests this can be scary as they will also have to choose which libraries to use and learn them too.
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Pro
Write tests with Behavior Driven Development (BDD)
Allows developers to choose their development process. Not only TDD but also BDD.
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Con
No atomic tests
Tests cannot be ran in random order.
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Pro
Runs in Node.js and the browser
Mocha has a browser build as well as a node command line program so you can test in client and server side environments.
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Pro
Makes Asynchronous testing extremely easy
No need to write tricky statements for Async testing. Mocha gives you a done callback. Place this done parameter in your callback function, that'll let Mocha know that you've written an asynchronous function.
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Pro
Integrates really well with NodeJS
The Mocha test framework itself runs on NodeJS, hence it makes everything related to it extremely simple. With Mocha's simple syntax and speed, testing your node.js app just got a whole lot easier.
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Pro
Custom full color test reporters
Mocha has multiple test reporters built in and you can create your own as well. The test reporters have full color and makes it easy to see if your tests fail or not.
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Pro
Easy to add support for Generators
Aside from the numerous benefits with generators in your application, You can now also integrate generators into your test suite. By using mocha, all you have to do is enable support for generators.
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Experiences
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110
6
Google Web Designer
All
4
Experiences
Pros
1
Cons
2
Specs
Top
Con
It is not a tool for website design
It's only for animations, banners and so on.
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Pro
Multi platform
Google Web Designer supports Mac, Windows and Linux.
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Con
Currently in Beta
Google Web Designer was launched in 2013, and still remains in beta.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Mac, Linux
WYSIWYG:
Yes
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4
2
JSHint
All
5
Experiences
Pros
3
Cons
2
Top
Con
No way to support ESnext
There's no support for ESnext available.
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Pro
Customizable ruleset
Since it's creation, JSHint was created to be a more configurable version of JSLint (it's actually a fork of JSLint itself). Every rule is configurable through a configuration file.
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Con
Difficult to know which rule is causing an error
Because it does not display the rule name that is being broken, it's difficult to know which rule is actually causing the error.
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Pro
Comes with support for many librariers
JSHint supports libraries like QUnit, NodeJS, jQuery, Mocha out of the box.
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Pro
Basic ES6 support
Basic ES6 support is included.
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12
6
Grunt
All
13
Experiences
Pros
8
Cons
4
Specs
Top
Con
Grunt compatibility issues
Changes in different versions in grunt are not always backwards-compatible.
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Pro
Configurations are easy to write
Grunt emphasizes configuration over code. As such grunt configurations are easy to write. Writing them does not require knowledge of streams, promises, concurrency, or asynchronous tasks to set up.
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Con
Large bloated configuration files
To configure Grunt, developers need to basically write large files and configure JSON objects. While it's very powerful, the sheer complexity of it's configuration file may be a large obstacle for newcomers and developers that have not used any automation tools before. This may push them to search for simpler alternatives.
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Pro
Has tons of plugins
Grunt has been available for a long time and during this time it has garnered a large community of dedicated developers who have made more than 4000 grunt plugins available to be used.
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Con
Grunt lost mindshare in general
Grunt can only do what the individual plugins allow it to do. New tools aren't always being made available for Grunt, nor are they always being updated as quickly, so you're stuck with an aging ecosystem.
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Pro
Plugins configured out of the box
The default behaviors for most plugins is normally what you want, so if you just use a plugin without configuring it, it will work for most use cases.
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Con
The need to track creation/movement of files
Debugging and augmenting grunt pipelines are much harder than other build systems that clearly show the pipelines in the code. Grunt works on files so you must track where each task puts files and try and intercept that in a task if you want to add something in the middle of a build pipeline.
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Pro
A GUI front-end via spock
A graphical user interface for grunt is available via spock.
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Pro
Choice of using it as a config file or writing your own functions
You can use Grunt as a config file or JavaScript by writing your functions via Node Modules.
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Pro
Grunt v1.0 alpha uses Orchestrator for maximum concurrency
Grunt version 1 alpha, aka grunt-next, the upcoming next major release of Grunt, uses Orchestrator to sequence and execute tasks and dependencies with maximum concurrency, potentially bringing it up to speed with Gulp in term of performance.
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Pro
An API that makes writing and using of plugins extremely easy
The API is built in such a way that if you write a Grunt task that is useful for someone else out there or would be useful for future projects, it can be easily made into a grunt plugin and then shared using npm.
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Pro
Shell commands inside Grunt
There is a Grunt plugin called grunt-exec which allows developers to execute shell commands inside their Grunt files. This is extremely easy if a developer is developing only in Node and constantly getting out of Node environment to run something like a git command can become frustrating.
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Specs
Number of Plugins:
4000+
Task instruction style:
Configuration
Processing method:
FIle-based
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Experiences
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34
16
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