By Vishal Basumatary in javascript — Mar 24, 2023

what is pug template engine

What is Pug Template Engine?

If you are a web developer, you must have heard about templating engines that simplify the process of creating dynamic HTML pages. One such popular templating engine is Pug (formerly known as Jade).

Pug is a high-performance JavaScript-based templating engine that allows you to write HTML code using a more concise and readable syntax. It was developed with the aim of making web development faster and more efficient.

How does Pug Work?

Before diving into Pug's syntax, it's essential to understand how it works. Simply put, Pug compiles your code into HTML at runtime. It takes your Pug code, converts it into an abstract syntax tree (AST), and then generates the corresponding HTML markup.

The Pug syntax is designed to be easy to read and write. Instead of opening and closing tags, Pug uses indentation to represent the document tree structure. For example, the following Pug code:


html
  head
    title My Page
  body
    h1 Hello, World!

will be compiled into the following HTML:


<html>
  <head>
    <title>My Page</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Hello, World!</h1>
  </body>
</html>

As you can see, Pug's syntax is much cleaner and easier to read than HTML, especially when dealing with complex or nested structures.

Benefits of Using Pug

Using Pug has several advantages, including:

Concise Syntax: Pug's syntax is much cleaner and easier to read than HTML, especially when dealing with complex or nested structures.
Improved Readability: Since Pug uses indentation instead of opening and closing tags, it's easier to read and understand the document structure.
Faster Development: Pug's concise syntax and improved readability make it faster to write and maintain code.
Better Error Handling: Pug's compiler provides detailed error messages that help you diagnose and fix issues quickly.
Extensibility: Pug supports a wide range of features, including mixins, inheritance, filters, and more, making it highly extensible.

Conclusion

Pug is a powerful templating engine that simplifies the process of creating dynamic HTML pages. Its concise syntax, improved readability, and extensibility make it a popular choice among web developers. If you haven't tried Pug yet, give it a shot and see how it can improve your web development workflow.