[gatmne]

> some people seem to think there's a useful distinction being made

What is that distinction? Excluding the javascript crowd, I doubt this phrase will see extensive use in the field until the term gets properly defined and is meaningfully distinct from the word Compile as used today.

[nurettin]

I assume "javascript crowd" knows how to compile their node binary. Thus, they know the distinction between babeljs and gcc, and therefore they know the distinction between compiler and transpiler.

[gatmne]

What's the distinction between Compile and transpile then? and is this distinction agreed upon and meaningful?

[nurettin]

I agree with drdrey's definition here[1], which is echoed in paragraph two here[2] as well, which provides you with the agreement part at least. Whether if it is meaningful to you, is up to you.

[1] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16076823 [2] - https://hackernoon.com/moving-to-es6-babel-and-transpilers-3...