CoffeeScript vs. JavaScript vs. Less vs. PureScript Comparison Chart

Underneath that awkward Java-esque patina, JavaScript has always had a gorgeous heart. CoffeeScript is an attempt to expose the good parts of JavaScript in a simple way. The golden rule of CoffeeScript is: “It’s just JavaScript.” The code compiles one-to-one into the equivalent JS, and there is no interpretation at runtime. You can use any existing JavaScript library seamlessly from CoffeeScript (and vice-versa). The compiled output is readable, pretty printed, and tends to run as fast or faster than the equivalent handwritten JavaScript. Most modern JavaScript features that CoffeeScript supports can run natively in Node 7.6+, meaning that Node can run CoffeeScript’s output without any further processing required. This list may be incomplete, and excludes versions of Node that support newer features behind flags; please refer to node.green for full details. You can run the tests in your browser to see what your browser supports.

Less (which stands for Leaner Style Sheets) is a backwards-compatible language extension for CSS. This is the official documentation for Less, the language and Less.js, the JavaScript tool that converts your Less styles to CSS styles. Because Less looks just like CSS, learning it is a breeze. Less only makes a few convenient additions to the CSS language, which is one of the reasons it can be learned so quickly. Mixins are a way of including ("mixing in") a bunch of properties from one rule-set into another rule-set. Less gives you the ability to use nesting instead of, or in combination with cascading.