Javascript

A Look At Bun.sh: the Modern JavaScript Runtime

Published Oct 12, 2022

Updated Feb 13, 2023

3 min read

This article was written over 18 months ago and may contain information that is out of date. Some content may be relevant but please refer to the relevant official documentation or available resources for the latest information.

Bun is a modern JavaScript runtime like Node or Deno focused on speed, and performance. It is an all-in-one tool (runtime, bundler, package manager, transpiler).

In this article, we will look at the excitement behind it, and dive into some features.

Overview

Bun is developed from scratch using the zig programming language. It uses JavaScriptCore Engine (Same with Safari browser), which is unlike Node.js and Deno, which use Chrome’s V8 engine. Bun natively implements hundreds of Node.js and Web APIs, including ~90% of Node-API functions (native modules), fs, path, buffer, and more. Plus, it supports Typescript and JSX out of the box.

Getting started

To install Bun on our machine, simply run the command:

curl https://bun.sh/install | bash

# Manually add the directory to your $HOME/.bashrc (or similar)
BUN_INSTALL="/home/jgranja/.bun"
PATH="$BUN_INSTALL/bin:$PATH"

For Mac, Linux, and Windows Subsystem.

Now run bun --version to verify that it is correctly installed.

First Bun Script

Create a javascript file called http.js and add the following:

export default {
  port: 3000,
  fetch(request) {
    return new Response("Welcome to Bun!");
  },
};

Now run the following:

bun run http.js

Then open http://localhost:3000 in your browser.

You can create the same file in Typescript as http.ts and run:

bun run http.ts

Then open http://localhost:3000 in your browser.

Without modification or extra installation, we now have scripts in JavaScript and Typescript running.

Features

Let's dive into some of the features of bun.

Packages

Bun supports node packages and provides some integration with the latest React ecosystem with the create command.

Bun uses node_modules.bun to house all the imported dependencies. Let’s add React to our new project.

bun add react

Bun will generate the node_module.bun file in the directory.

For an existing application similar to yarn or npm to install dependencies with bun, simply run bun install in the project directory.

It will use the existing package.json in combination with the lock file when present to add dependencies.

Scaffolding an App

To scaffold or create a new project from a template, framework (React), or blank project, use the create command.

  bun create blank ./blank-app

  bun create bun-bakery ./bun-bakery-app

  bun create discord-interactions ./discord-interactions-app

  bun create hono ./hono-app

  bun create next ./next-app

  bun create react ./react-app

SQLite3 Out of the box

With Bun, you don’t have to install SQLite as it’s built-in out of the box.

import { Database } from "bun:sqlite";
// Create a new Database File
const db = new Database("db.sqlite3");
// Create a table in the database
db.run("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS people (name VARCHAR(100));")
// Insert Some Values into the table
db.run("INSERT INTO people VALUES ('hassan'), ('inidaname'), ('sani');")
// Query the table
const result = db.query("SELECT * FROM people;").all()
// Log results
console.log(result)

Run the code with bun run db.js, and you should see the records that are inserted logged on the terminal.

Environment Variables

Bun automatically loads environment variables from .env files. No more require("dotenv").config() and you can simply access proccess.env without needing to install packages.

Create an .env file with the following:

APIKEY=NotReallyA_Key

Create a file http.js

export default {
  port: 3000,
  fetch(request) {
    console.log(process.env.APIKEY)
    return new Response("Welcome to Bun!");
  },
};

Run the code with bun run http.js, and you should see the NotReallyA_Key logged on the terminal.

Conclusion

Hopefully this article showed you how easy it is to get started with Bun and the features you should be excited about.

The Bun approach to performance is truly a big win for the community.

Bun is still young and seems to have a promising future. Will Bun replace Deno or Node? That is too early to call, as both existing runtimes have been around for a while and are actively maintained and features are being added often with constant improvements on the existing APIs.

Bun does not yet have a stable release (as of this writing) and is still very early in development.

What’s your opinion on bun or some exciting projects you might build or migrate with bun?

This Dot is a consultancy dedicated to guiding companies through their modernization and digital transformation journeys. Specializing in replatforming, modernizing, and launching new initiatives, we stand out by taking true ownership of your engineering projects.

We love helping teams with projects that have missed their deadlines or helping keep your strategic digital initiatives on course. Check out our case studies and our clients that trust us with their engineering.

About the author(s)

Hassan Sani
@inidaname @inidaname

Exploring Angular Forms: A New Alternative with Signals

Exploring Angular Forms: A New Alternative with Signals In the world of Angular, forms are essential for user interaction, whether you're crafting a simple login page or a more complex user profile interface. Angular traditionally offers two primary approaches: template-driven forms and reactive forms. In my previous series on Angular Reactive Forms, I explored how to harness reactive forms' power to manage complex logic, create dynamic forms, and build custom form controls. A new tool for managing reactivity - signals - has been introduced in version 16 of Angular and has been the focus of Angular maintainers ever since, becoming stable with version 17. Signals allow you to handle state changes declaratively, offering an exciting alternative that combines the simplicity of template-driven forms with the robust reactivity of reactive forms. This article will examine how signals can add reactivity to both simple and complex forms in Angular. Recap: Angular Forms Approaches Before diving into the topic of enhancing template-driven forms with signals, let’s quickly recap Angular's traditional forms approaches: 1. Template-Driven Forms: Defined directly in the HTML template using directives like ngModel, these forms are easy to set up and are ideal for simple forms. However, they may not provide the fine-grained control required for more complex scenarios. Here's a minimal example of a template-driven form: ` ` 2. Reactive Forms: Managed programmatically in the component class using Angular's FormGroup, FormControl, and FormArray classes; reactive forms offer granular control over form state and validation. This approach is well-suited for complex forms, as my previous articles on Angular Reactive Forms discussed. And here's a minimal example of a reactive form: ` ` Introducing Signals as a New Way to Handle Form Reactivity With the release of Angular 16, signals have emerged as a new way to manage reactivity. Signals provide a declarative approach to state management, making your code more predictable and easier to understand. When applied to forms, signals can enhance the simplicity of template-driven forms while offering the reactivity and control typically associated with reactive forms. Let’s explore how signals can be used in both simple and complex form scenarios. Example 1: A Simple Template-Driven Form with Signals Consider a basic login form. Typically, this would be implemented using template-driven forms like this: ` ` This approach works well for simple forms, but by introducing signals, we can keep the simplicity while adding reactive capabilities: ` ` In this example, the form fields are defined as signals, allowing for reactive updates whenever the form state changes. The formValue signal provides a computed value that reflects the current state of the form. This approach offers a more declarative way to manage form state and reactivity, combining the simplicity of template-driven forms with the power of signals. You may be tempted to define the form directly as an object inside a signal. While such an approach may seem more concise, typing into the individual fields does not dispatch reactivity updates, which is usually a deal breaker. Here’s an example StackBlitz with a component suffering from such an issue: Therefore, if you'd like to react to changes in the form fields, it's better to define each field as a separate signal. By defining each form field as a separate signal, you ensure that changes to individual fields trigger reactivity updates correctly. Example 2: A Complex Form with Signals You may see little benefit in using signals for simple forms like the login form above, but they truly shine when handling more complex forms. Let's explore a more intricate scenario - a user profile form that includes fields like firstName, lastName, email, phoneNumbers, and address. The phoneNumbers field is dynamic, allowing users to add or remove phone numbers as needed. Here's how this form might be defined using signals: ` > Notice that the phoneNumbers field is defined as a signal of an array of signals. This structure allows us to track changes to individual phone numbers and update the form state reactively. The addPhoneNumber and removePhoneNumber methods update the phoneNumbers signal array, triggering reactivity updates in the form. ` > In the template, we use the phoneNumbers signal array to dynamically render the phone number input fields. The addPhoneNumber and removePhoneNumber methods allow users to reactively add or remove phone numbers, updating the form state. Notice the usage of the track function, which is necessary to ensure that the ngFor directive tracks changes to the phoneNumbers array correctly. Here's a StackBlitz demo of the complex form example for you to play around with: Validating Forms with Signals Validation is critical to any form, ensuring that user input meets the required criteria before submission. With signals, validation can be handled in a reactive and declarative manner. In the complex form example above, we've implemented a computed signal called formValid, which checks whether all fields meet specific validation criteria. The validation logic can easily be customized to accommodate different rules, such as checking for valid email formats or ensuring that all required fields are filled out. Using signals for validation allows you to create more maintainable and testable code, as the validation rules are clearly defined and react automatically to changes in form fields. It can even be abstracted into a separate utility to make it reusable across different forms. In the complex form example, the formValid signal ensures that all required fields are filled and validates the email and phone numbers format. This approach to validation is a bit simple and needs to be better connected to the actual form fields. While it will work for many use cases, in some cases, you might want to wait until explicit "signal forms" support is added to Angular. Tim Deschryver started implementing some abstractions around signal forms, including validation and wrote an article about it. Let's see if something like this will be added to Angular in the future. Why Use Signals in Angular Forms? The adoption of signals in Angular provides a powerful new way to manage form state and reactivity. Signals offer a flexible, declarative approach that can simplify complex form handling by combining the strengths of template-driven forms and reactive forms. Here are some key benefits of using signals in Angular forms: 1. Declarative State Management: Signals allow you to define form fields and computed values declaratively, making your code more predictable and easier to understand. 2. Reactivity: Signals provide reactive updates to form fields, ensuring that changes to the form state trigger reactivity updates automatically. 3. Granular Control: Signals allow you to define form fields at a granular level, enabling fine-grained control over form state and validation. 4. Dynamic Forms: Signals can be used to create dynamic forms with fields that can be added or removed dynamically, providing a flexible way to handle complex form scenarios. 5. Simplicity: Signals can offer a simpler, more concise way to manage form states than traditional reactive forms, making building and maintaining complex forms easier. Conclusion In my previous articles, we explored the powerful features of Angular reactive forms, from dynamic form construction to custom form controls. With the introduction of signals, Angular developers have a new tool that merges the simplicity of template-driven forms with the reactivity of reactive forms. While many use cases warrant Reactive Forms, signals provide a fresh, powerful alternative for managing form state in Angular applications requiring a more straightforward, declarative approach. As Angular continues to evolve, experimenting with these new features will help you build more maintainable, performant applications. Happy coding!...

Oct 4, 2024

5 mins

AngularJavaScript

The HTML Dialog Element: Enhancing Accessibility and Ease of Use

The HTML Dialog Element: Enhancing Accessibility and Ease of Use Dialogs are a common component added to applications, whether on the web or in native applications. Traditionally there has not been a standard way of implementing these on the web, resulting in many ad-hoc implementations that don’t act consistently across different web applications. Often, commonly expected features are missing from dialogs due to the complexity of implementing them. However, web browsers now offer a standard dialog element. Why use the dialog element? The native dialog element streamlines the implementation of dialogs, modals, and other kinds of non-modal dialogs. It does this by implementing many of the features needed by dialogs for you that are already baked into the browser. This is helpful as it reduces the burden on the developer when making their applications accessible by ensuring that user expectations concerning interaction are met, and it can also potentially simplify the implementation of dialogs in general. Basic usage Adding a dialog using the new tag can be achieved with just a few lines of code. ` However, adding the dialog alone won’t do anything to the page. It will show up only once you call the .showModal() method against it. ` Then if you want to close it you can call the .close() method on the dialog, or press the escape key to close it, just like most other modals work. Also, note how a backdrop appears that darkens the rest of the page and prevents you from interacting with it. Neat! Accessibility and focus management Correctly handling focus is important when making your web applications accessible to all users. Typically you have to move the current focus to the active dialog when showing them, but with the dialog element that’s done for you. By default, the focus will be set on the first focusable element in the dialog. You can optionally change which element receives focus first by setting the autofocus attribute on the element you want the focus to start on, as seen in the previous example where that attribute was added to the close element. Using the .showModal() method to open the dialog also implicitly adds the dialog ARIA role to the dialog element. This helps screen readers understand that a modal has appeared and the screen so it can act accordingly. Adding forms to dialogs Forms can also be added to dialogs, and there’s even a special method value for them. If you add a element with the method set to dialog then the form will have some different behaviors that differ from the standard get and post form methods. First off, no external HTTP request will be made with this new method. What will happen instead is that when the form gets submitted, the returnValue property on the form element will be set to the value of the submit button in the form. So given this example form: ` The form element with the example-form id will have its returnValue set to Submit. In addition to that, the dialog will close immediately after the submit event is done being handled, though not before automatic form validation is done. If this fails then the invalid event will be emitted. You may have already noticed one caveat to all of this. You might not want the form to close automatically when the submit handler is done running. If you perform an asynchronous request with an API or server you may want to wait for a response and show any errors that occur before dismissing the dialog. In this case, you can call event.preventDefault() in the submit event listener like so: ` Once your desired response comes back from the server, you can close it manually by using the .close() method on the dialog. Enhancing the backdrop The backdrop behind the dialog is a mostly translucent gray background by default. However, that backdrop is fully customizable using the ::backdrop pseudo-element. With it, you can set a background-color to any value you want, including gradients, images, etc. You may also want to make clicking the backdrop dismiss the modal, as this is a commonly implemented feature of them. By default, the <dialog> element doesn’t do this for us. There are a couple of changes that we can make to the dialog to get this working. First, an event listener is needed so that we know when the user clicks away from the dialog. ` Alone this event listener looks strange. It appears to dismiss the dialog whenever the dialog is clicked, not the backdrop. That’s the opposite of what we want to do. Unfortunately, you cannot listen for a click event on the backdrop as it is considered to be part of the dialog itself. Adding this event listener by itself will effectively make clicking anywhere on the page dismiss the dialog. To correct for this we need to wrap the contents of the dialog content with another element that will effectively mask the dialog and receive the click instead. A simple element can do! ` Even this isn’t perfect though as the contents of the div may have elements with margins in them that will push the div down, resulting in clicks close to the edges of the dialog to dismiss it. This can be resolved by adding a couple of styles the the wrapping div that will make the margin stay contained within the wrapper element. The dialog element itself also has some default padding that will exacerbate this issue. ` The wrapping div can be made into an inline-block element to contain the margin, and by moving the padding from the parent dialog to the wrapper, clicks made in the padded portions of the dialog will now interact with the wrapper element instead ensuring it won’t be dismissed. Conclusion Using the dialog element offers significant advantages for creating dialogs and modals by simplifying implementation with reasonable default behavior, enhancing accessibility for users that need assistive technologies such as screen readers by using automatic ARIA role assignment, tailored support for form elements, and flexible styling options....

Oct 25, 2024

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Using a Starter Kit on Starter.dev to Kickstart Your React and Angular Projects

As a developer, deciding on the stack to use and the dependencies can be a difficult choice. Once you start, configuration, installation, and making sure you have the correct versions are also chores. Starting with a prebuilt framework for some of these tasks can boost a developer's productivity and save time by eliminating repetitions. In this article, I will walk you through how you can cut 40 hours of setup and boost productivity by focusing on what really matters. We will learn a simple solution for implementing project functionality without worrying about setting up different versions of dependencies and configurations, or repeating the same process for different projects. Introducing Starter Kits starter.dev has a curated list of starter kits for various frameworks and libraries to help boost developer productivity. Why starter kits? Our architects discovered they were repeatedly going through the same process every time they needed to start a new project. This process included initializing, installing dependencies, setting up tests, and everything else that comes with bootstrapping a new project. How to use a Starter Kit Let’s walk through starting apps with Angular, and React with starter kits using the Starter Kits Showcases. Every starter kit is structured with the basic requirements to initialize the projects with key features: - Routing - Forms - State Management - API interactions - REST & GraphQL - Authentication - Test Runners These features help developers understand how to architect and build large scale applications. The default project directories are scaffolded with added directories, configurations, and a demo app to help quickly build or modify the components. Using the Angular Apollo TailwindCSS Starter Kit Every starter kit is easy to initialize so you can start building features for your project. The Angular starter kit sets you up with these tools to quickly get you started: - Angular 13: for build frontend components - Apollo Client: for managing both local and remote data with GraphQL - TailwindCSS: for styling components and elements - Storybook: Component library - Jest: Test runner Initializing the project: To initialize a project with the starter kits, run the following: 1. Run npx @this-dot/create-starter to run the scaffolding tool 2. Select Angular, Apollo, and TailwindCSS kits from the CLI library options 3. Name your project 4. cd into your project directory, install dependencies using the tool of your choice, and voila! You can start building features in your new project immediately. Configurations The project pre-configuration is the recommended Angular GraphQL configuration. The ApolloModule and ApolloClientOptions are imported for the App NgModule. ` ` Project Implementation. Starter kits aim to make your project set up fast, easy and reusable. The initial demo project is a counter example connected to a GraphQL module with a fetch example and routes implemented - all following industry’s best practices. Go ahead to add more components or modify existing components without the need to make any changes to the configuration. Extras The preconfigured Storybook for component management gives developers the opportunity to create organized UI systems making both the building process and documentation more efficient and easier to use. React RxJs and Styled Components The React starter kit tools scaffold to quickly get you started with a React project, and include: - React 17: for building frontend components - RxJs: for managing data - Styled Components: for styling components and elements - React Router: For matching project routes - Storybook: Component library - Jest: Test runner Initializing the project: To initialize a project with the starter kits, run the following: - Run npx @this-dot/create-starter to run the scaffolding tool - Select Create React App, RxJS and Styled Components kits from the CLI library options - Name your project - cd into your project directory, install dependencies using the tool of your choice, and voila! You can start building features in your new project immediately. Configurations The project configuration is the same with an initial create-react-app config boilerplate, but with pre-configurations for Storybook and style component. Conclusion In this article, you were able to boost productivity by cutting the time of setting up and moving straight to implementing components, allowing you to focus on working on what matters. I hope this article was helpful, let us know what other starter kits you will love to see on starter.dev....

Dec 12, 2022

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AngularReact

AI Leadership: Data-Driven Decision Making & Avoiding "Analysis Paralysis" with Jerry Reghunadh

In this episode of Leadership Exchange, host Rob Ocel chats with Jerry Reghunadh, Senior Director of Enterprise Architecture at Data Nimbus, about leadership, AI adoption, and data-driven decision-making. Jerry shares his career journey, insights on leveraging tools like ChatGPT and Copilot, and strategies for building effective data pipelines. They explore how companies can avoid "analysis paralysis," adopt AI strategically, and evaluate new technologies to solve real-world problems. Tune in for practical advice on aligning innovation with business goals and staying competitive in a rapidly evolving tech landscape. Chapters 00:00 – Introduction 00:31 – Jerry’s Leadership Journey 02:01 – Discussing AI in Leadership 03:59 – Experimenting with AI Tools 06:24 – Overcoming Analysis Paralysis 09:18 – Importance of Early AI Adoption 13:12 – AI’s Impact on Efficiency 14:30 – Sponsor Message 16:26 – Setting Realistic Goals for AI 19:41 – Data Management and AI 23:09 – Is AI Just a Fad? 27:22 – Testing New Technologies 29:56 – Final Thoughts on AI 30:25 – Connect with Jerry 30:44 – Closing Remarks 31:20 – Outro Follow Jerry on Social Media Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerrymannel/ Sponsored by This Dot: thisdot.co...

Nov 18, 2024

1 min

AIEngineering Leadership

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Whether it's modernization or custom software solutions, our team of experts can guide you through best practices and how to build scalable, performant software that lasts.

A Look At Bun.sh: the Modern JavaScript Runtime

Overview

Getting started

First Bun Script

Features

Packages

Scaffolding an App

SQLite3 Out of the box

Environment Variables

Conclusion

Hassan Sani

You might also like

Exploring Angular Forms: A New Alternative with Signals

The HTML Dialog Element: Enhancing Accessibility and Ease of Use

Using a Starter Kit on Starter.dev to Kickstart Your React and Angular Projects

AI Leadership: Data-Driven Decision Making & Avoiding "Analysis Paralysis" with Jerry Reghunadh

Let's innovate together!

You might also like

Exploring Angular Forms: A New Alternative with Signals

The HTML Dialog Element: Enhancing Accessibility and Ease of Use

Using a Starter Kit on Starter.dev to Kickstart Your React and Angular Projects

AI Leadership: Data-Driven Decision Making & Avoiding "Analysis Paralysis" with Jerry Reghunadh