{"searchDocs":[{"title":"The webpack industrial complex","type":0,"sectionRef":"#","url":"/2011/11/webpack-industrial-complex","content":"","keywords":"","version":null},{"title":"Starting strong","type":1,"pageTitle":"The webpack industrial complex","url":"/2011/11/webpack-industrial-complex#starting-strong","content":" The sole starting requirement was to write everything in TypeScript. Not because of project scale, but because guardrails help with unfamiliar territory. Keeping that in mind, the first question was: how does one start a new project? All I actually need is "compile TypeScript, show it in a browser." Create React App (CRA) came to the rescue and the rest of that evening was a joy. My TypeScript/JavaScript skills were rusty, but the online documentation was helpful. I had never understood the appeal of JSX (why put a DOM in JavaScript?) until it made connecting an onEvent handler and a function easy. Some quick dimensional analysis later and there was a sine wave oscillator playing A=440 through the speakers. I specifically remember thinking "modern browsers are magical." ","version":null,"tagName":"h2"},{"title":"Continuing on","type":1,"pageTitle":"The webpack industrial complex","url":"/2011/11/webpack-industrial-complex#continuing-on","content":" Now comes the first mistake: I began to worry about "scale" before encountering an actual problem. Rather than rendering audio in the main thread, why not use audio worklets and render in a background thread instead? The first sign something was amiss came from the TypeScript compiler errors showing the audio worklet API was missing. After searching out Github issues and (unsuccessfully) tweaking the .tsconfig settings, I settled on installing a package and moving on. The next problem came from actually using the API. Worklets must load from separate "modules," but it wasn't clear how to guarantee the worklet code stayed separate from the application. I saw recommendations to use new URL(<local path>, import.meta.url) and it worked! Well, kind of: That file has the audio processor code, so why does it get served with Content-Type: video/mp2t? ","version":null,"tagName":"h2"},{"title":"Floundering about","type":1,"pageTitle":"The webpack industrial complex","url":"/2011/11/webpack-industrial-complex#floundering-about","content":" Now comes the second mistake: even though I didn't understand the error, I ignored recommendations to just use JavaScript and stuck by the original TypeScript requirement. I tried different project structures. Moving the worklet code to a new folder didn't help, nor did setting up a monorepo and placing it in a new package. I tried three different CRA tools - react-app-rewired, craco, customize-react-app - but got the same problem. Each has varying levels of compatibility with recent CRA versions, so it wasn't clear if I had the right solution but implemented it incorrectly. After attempting to eject the application and panicking after seeing the configuration, I abandoned that as well. I tried changing the webpack configuration: using new loaders, setting asset rules, even changing how webpack detects worker resources. In hindsight, entry points may have been the answer. But because CRA actively resists attempts to change its webpack configuration, and I couldn't find audio worklet examples in any other framework, I gave up. I tried so many application frameworks. Next.js looked like a good candidate, but added its own bespoke webpack complexity to the existing confusion. Astro had the best "getting started" experience, but I refuse to install an IDE-specific plugin. I first used Deno while exploring Lume, but it couldn't import the audio worklet types (maybe because of module compatibility?). Each framework was unique in its own way (shout-out to SvelteKit) but I couldn't figure out how to make them work. ","version":null,"tagName":"h2"},{"title":"Learning and reflecting","type":1,"pageTitle":"The webpack industrial complex","url":"/2011/11/webpack-ind
