HELP WANTED: ES6 Conversion Effort

Hello pixi devs!

Thanks to this PR #2936 (shoutout to @leonardo-silva!) we have begun an effort to convert the code-base of Pixi.js to ES6. The purpose of this upgrade is to future-proof as well as make Pixi.js more maintainable. While the source will be ES6, we will continue to build to ES5-compatible JavaScript using Babel. But hopefully in the future we’ll be able to provide an ES6+ build.

Usually these types of changes are very challenging and difficult to pull off because of how distruptive they are to existing PRs and development, so ideally we’d like to get to stability as quickly as possible. So, we need your help!

There are a couple things that would be really useful if you’re looking to help:

• We have setup a dev-es6 branch and welcome PRs to that branch for those proficient with ES6. Particularly, looking for additional PRs to add more use of const, fat arrows functions, and static getters.
• We need help performance testing the Babel build to make sure we have not compromised any of the amazing Pixi-speed we have all come to love.
• We could use help smoke-testing the latest build on this branch (see below for build links). Please add this to your v4 projects and post if you find any issues.
• We could use help smoke-testing the documentation to make sure jsdoc still plays well with ES6 (see link below)

ES6 Builds http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/pixi.js/dev-es6/pixi.js http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/pixi.js/dev-es6/pixi.min.js

Documentation http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/pixi.js/dev-es6/docs/index.html

[endel]

I’ll suggest to you guys to consider using TypeScript as part of this major rewrite/adaptation. Just some points about TypeScript:

• Using type system in JavaScript will become the new standard, it’s just a matter of time.
• It IS JavaScript. No difference in syntax besides the type system.
• Improves code quality. You’ll possibly find a considerable amount of code that needs to be slightly restructured to match the types in the right places.
• Increase pull-request quality check - if there’s some type issue, the patch simply cannot be merged.

I know this is not an easy chore, but I believe it can bring major benefits for the code base and the community. Cheers!

[bigtimebuddy]

Thanks @englercj. Good list.