What is an incremental bundler for web applications? I guess a prominent example is Webpack. Explain it to me like I know how software works but am not very experienced with web technologies.
An incremental bundler is a tool used in web development to bundle together different files that make up a web application into a single file that can be served to users. The purpose of bundling is to reduce the number of requests made to the server when a user accesses a web page, which can significantly improve the performance of the application.

When you build a web application, you typically write code in multiple files, such as JavaScript files, CSS files, HTML templates, and image files. An incremental bundler takes these files as input and generates a single file that contains all the code and assets required by the application.

The incremental part of the bundler means that it only updates the portions of the code that have changed since the last time the bundler was run. This makes it very efficient for large projects that take a long time to build because it only rebuilds what has changed, rather than rebuilding the entire project from scratch.

Webpack is a popular example of an incremental bundler used in web development. It can take multiple types of assets as input, including JavaScript, CSS, images, and HTML files. It analyzes the dependencies between these files and generates a dependency graph that is used to generate the output bundles.

Webpack also includes a development server that allows developers to make changes to their code and see the results in real-time without having to manually refresh the browser. This can greatly speed up the development process and make it easier to catch errors and bugs.

Overall, an incremental bundler is a valuable tool for web developers that can greatly improve the performance of web applications and make development more efficient.
What are some examples?
Some examples of incremental bundlers for web applications include:

- Webpack: A popular open-source bundler that can bundle together multiple file types, analyze dependencies between them, and generate optimized output files.

- Rollup: A JavaScript bundler that specializes in bundling JavaScript modules and libraries into a single file.

- Parcel: Another popular open-source bundler that supports multiple file types and can automatically optimize the output based on the target environment.

- Browserify: A bundler that is designed specifically for bundling Node.js-style modules for use in the browser.

These are just a few examples of the many incremental bundlers available for web development. Each tool has its own strengths and weaknesses, so it's important to choose the one that best fits the needs of your project.