Tower of Babel

1.0.0 verified Sat Apr 25 auth: no javascript deprecated

A Node.js workshopper tutorial that teaches ES6 features through interactive exercises. Version 1.0.0 (last release circa 2015) is stable and uses Babel 6 with the es2015 preset. It is designed for offline command-line learning, with each exercise requiring the user to write code that passes a test. Differentiators: focuses exclusively on ES6 transpilation with Babel, as opposed to general ES6 tutorials. No longer actively maintained; superseded by modern environments with native ES6 support.

Common errors

error Error: Cannot find module 'babel-preset-es2015' ↓

cause The required babel-preset-es2015 is not installed.

fix

Run 'npm install babel-preset-es2015' inside the project directory.

error sh: ./node_modules/.bin/tower-of-babel: No such file or directory ↓

cause The tower-of-babel package is not installed or the path is incorrect.

fix

Ensure tower-of-babel is in node_modules: run 'npm install tower-of-babel' from the project root.

error Error: Module version mismatch. Expected 50, got 48. ↓

cause Babel is not compatible with the installed Node.js version.

fix

Use Node.js version 4.x or upgrade to Babel 7 with a compatible Node version.

Warnings

deprecated Tower of Babel uses Babel 6 and is no longer maintained. Modern environments support ES6 natively. ↓

fix Consider using native ES6 or a modern tutorial.

getting error Requires Node.js version 4 or lower. May fail on newer Node versions due to changes in module resolution. ↓

fix Use an older Node.js version (e.g., 4.x) or Docker to run the tutorial.

gotcha The .babelrc file must have presets set to es2015 for Babel 6. Babel 7 uses @babel/preset-env. ↓

fix For Babel 7, install @babel/cli, @babel/preset-env and set { "presets": ["@babel/preset-env"] } in .babelrc.

Install

npm install tower-of-babel

yarn add tower-of-babel

pnpm add tower-of-babel

Imports

Default import pattern
wrong
```
const fs = require('fs');
```
correct
```
import fs from 'fs';
```
ES6 import syntax is used throughout the exercises.

Named import pattern

wrong

const readFile = require('fs').readFile;

correct

import { readFile } from 'fs';

ES6 named imports are encouraged.

Arrow function

wrong

function add(a, b) { return a + b; }

correct

const add = (a, b) => a + b;

Arrow functions are a key ES6 feature taught.

Quickstart

Sets up a new project with ESLint, Babel, and starts the Tower of Babel tutorial.

mkdir tower-of-babel-solutions && cd tower-of-babel-solutions && npm init -y && npm i tower-of-babel && npm i babel-cli babel-preset-es2015 && echo '{ "presets": ["es2015"] }' > .babelrc && ./node_modules/tower-of-babel/tower-of-babel.js