[s20n]

> Lie #3: Transpilers Target the Same Level of Abstraction

> This is pretty much the same as (2). The input and output languages have the syntax of JavaScript but the fact that compiling one feature requires a whole program transformation gives away the fact that these are not the same language

It is not really the same as (2), you can't cherry pick the example of Babel and generalise it to every transpiler ever. There are several transpilers which transpile from one high-level language to another high-level language such as kotlin to swift. i.e; targeting the same level of abstraction.

Wonder what this person would say about macro expansions in scheme, maybe that should also be considered a compiler as per their definition.

[kragen]

BabelJS is the central example of "transpilers"; if BabelJS lacks some purported defining attribute of "transpilers", that definition is unsalvageable, even if there are other programs commonly called "transpilers" that do have that attribute.