The Future of Ember and Modern Build Tools with Chris Manson

Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Web Development, Neat

In this episode of Whiskey Web and Whatnot, Robbie talks with Chris Manson about the intricacies of JavaScript classes, the evolving landscape of React and Ember, and the benefits of using Vite in modern app development.

Over a Bulleit Rye, Robbie and Chris discuss the benefits of Ember for long-term stability and its backward compatibility, highlighting tooling like generators and integration tests that make Ember stand out. Transitioning toward modern web development, they examine the role of Vite and the ongoing efforts to integrate it with Ember, promising a future of faster rebuilds and cleaner dependencies.

In this episode:

• (00:00) - Intro
• (01:26) - Meet Chris Manson
• (02:41) - Whiskey - Bulleit Rye
• (07:44) - Hot takes
• (15:50) - Do we need SSR?
• (20:09) - Ember.js and modern build tools
• (32:25) - React vs. Ember
• (36:06) - Modernizing Ember with Embroider
• (40:22) - The technical challenges of Embroider
• (45:43) - Ember's inversion of control
• (55:46) - Ember's backward compatibility
• (59:31) - EmberFest

Quotes

“Because we're so opinionated in Ember, we're able to make decisions about your app that other frameworks aren't able to make, essentially. So we can say oh okay, we're cutting out all the stuff you're not using. That's the dead code elimination.” ~ Chris Manson

“We use generators in Ember. Very few other frameworks use generators. You generate a component in Ember and it instantly creates an integration test that renders that component and checks the contents of it and gives you ways to interact with it, to click it, to check the contents and encourages you to put more tests in that file.” ~ Chris Manson

Links

• Bulleit Rye: https://www.bulleit.com/whiskeys/bulleit-rye-whiskey
• Ember: https://emberjs.com
• Embroider: https://github.com/embroider-build/embroider
• Vite: https://vitejs.dev
• EmberFest: https://emberfest.eu

Connect with Chris

• X / Twitter: https://x.com/real_ate

Connect with our hosts

• Robbie Wagner: https://x.com/RobbieTheWagner
• Chuck Carpenter: https://x.com/CharlesWthe3rd

Subscribe and stay in touch

• Website: https://whiskey.fm
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whiskey-web-and-whatnot/id1552776603
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19jiuHAqzeKnkleQUpZxDf
• Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1552776603
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhiskeyWebAndWhatnot

Whiskey Web and Whatnot Merch
Enjoying the podcast and want us to make more? Help support us by picking up some of our fresh merch at https://whiskey.fund.