CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptnode.js
Pahlevi Fikri Auliya
Pahlevi Fikri Auliya

Reputation: 4537

What is the difference between JS files in dist/ folder and the one in root?

I am totally new to NodeJS and I wonder what's the difference between those two.

For example, in this project (https://github.com/fikriauliya/hipku), we have index.js and dist/hipku.js. They are similar except the last line:

module.exports = publicMethods; vs return publicMethods;

I guess dist/hipku.js is generated from index.js? How is it generated and why does it need to be generated?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 2675

Answers (2)

hjl
hjl

Reputation: 2802

It depends on how you want to use this package, in browser or server side.

  • server side

index.js is the entry of NPM package. When you do require('hipku'), actually NodeJS locates the file module node_modules/hipku and run index.js ends up with the object adhere to module.exports

  • browser

Just load dist/hipku.js into your browser by <script>, it will register hipku into your global namespace, then you can use it's API.

Upvotes: 1

Alex J
Alex J

Reputation: 1019

Things in the dist folder are usually the product of building from index.js in this case. You'll notice it gets minified, and that folder would eventually be used on production sites. If you look at the package.json file, you'll notice that index.js is the main file, so if you're doing any edits, that would be the place to do so.

Upvotes: 2

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