Grunt - Overview

What is Grunt?

Grunt is a JavaScript Task Runner which can be used as a command line tool for JavaScript objects. It is a task manager written on top of NodeJS.

Why Use Grunt?

• Grunt can perform repetitive tasks very easily, such as compilation, unit testing, minifying files, running tests, etc.
• Grunt includes built-in tasks that extend the functionality of your plugins and scripts.
• The ecosystem of Grunt is huge; you can automate anything with very less effort.

History

The first lines of source code were added to GruntJS in 2011. The Grunt v0.4 was released on February 18, 2013. The Grunt v0.4.5 was released on May 12, 2014. The stable version of Grunt is 1.0.0 rc1 which was released on February 11, 2016.

Advantages

• Using Grunt, you can perform minification, compilation, and testing of files easily.
• Grunt unifies the workflows of web developers.
• You can easily work with a new codebase using Grunt because it contains less infrastructure.
• It speeds up the development workflow and enhances the performance of projects.

Disadvantages

• Whenever npm packages are updated, you need to wait until the author of the Grunt updates it.
• Every task is designed to do a specified work. If you want to extend a specified task, then you need to use some tricks to get the work done.
• Grunt includes a large number of configuration parameters for individual plugins. Usually, Grunt configuration files are longer in length.