How many of us still use the old ES syntax in our NodeJS apps?
const express = require('express');
const app = express()
app.use(express.static...
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TS way is the best. Use sucrase as an alternative for nodemon and ts-node
Check how fast sucrase is
Typescript or not, import the the way, it doesn't matter if you use typescript or not.
Typescript is a dialect for development, not for runtime.
I also don't build my node modules back to the old way, my modules on npm have just import/export without a build step.
but, typescript guarantees type safety and rich intellisense, if you dont like typescript check JSDoc. JSDoc provides typings using regular JS comments so, no need for build steps.
examples
it enhances intellisense of your code editor.
Visit for more Info
JSDoc is indeed very useful for development, it's a standard for me to use it, but it's also not for runtime checking.
I made e.g. npmjs.com/package/@hckrnews/objects for type checking, but there are more packages to guarantee if the data is valid.
Typescript has some nice features, but for me there are also reasons I don't use it for node.js, and I found ways to write clean code that also guarantee that the data is valid.
Clean readable code, strict linting and good tests are very important for me.
For some it can be with typescript, but typescript don't guarantee that your code is good.
Use it if you like it, but it's not the holy grail for good code.
@w3nl
Agreed import is the way to go TS/JS!
Out of curiousity, what are the steps you use to import/export without a build step? I have been reading a bit of the docs and found that the two ways. Certainly curious to know your approach :)
nodejs.org/docs/latest-v14.x/api/e...
I use the type field in the package.json
Than you say that es modules is your default, and if you need common js, you have to change that file extension to cjs.
(e.g. if some old package need a config file in common js format)
The greatest benefit for me is debugging information, what is going on in the dependencies.
(Packages I made and use in my projects)
Interesting I will surely check out sucrase! I was working with esbuild earlier and was impressed by its performance compared to Babel or Webpack.
at first I was surprised too, after checking sucrase performance
Yeah this is what I need. I was a hobbyist node.js enthusiast until about 2014. I'm trying to hop back in now but like you said, all the tutorials and docs are outdated! A lot of style guides are still using var all over the place. Thanks. I'm very much the type to train my habits from day 1 and besides this article haven't really found a baseline or the way forward with a Node and ES6 style guide.
@bitfed Yes, it was certainly hard to find a guide to this with a straightforward solution but I am so glad this was helpful!
I hope to see more! There still isn't an ES6 node style guide.
very useful for node js development
Wow this is awesome. I didnt know that node has native support for ES modules and its so simple to implement. Thanks a ton for sharing this.
Of course! Glad you found it useful 🙃
Very good. Thanks for sharing
Glad you found it resourceful!
can it be combined? say, i got npm package that uses module.export. can it be imported by using import statement?
Yes it should work with module.export.
Just one thing to note:
Many people consider module.exports = ... to be equivalent to export default main; That's not quite true though, or at least not how Babel does it.
ES6 default exports are actually also named exports, except that default is a "reserved" name and there is special syntax support for it as a heads up