CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptnode.jstypescriptcommonjs
user9795472
user9795472

Reputation:

Why are there different ways to import Modules in JavaScript?

I am unsure the differences between importing a JavaScript module in the following:

Why are there so many ways to import javascript modules? Is "module" defined differently in different implementations? Are all doing the same thing but with different syntax?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 547

Answers (1)

T.J. Crowder
T.J. Crowder

Reputation: 1074355

There are no modules in ES5 and earlier. Various module systems (CommonJS, AMD, and the CommonJS-like ones in and Node.js and TypeScript) were created because there was no standard module system in JavaScript at the time, but it's a really useful thing to have. So the need got filled by tools and toolbuilders.

ES2015 (aka "ES6") created a standard syntax for modules in JavaScript which has now been adopted by all modern browsers, Node.js, and TypeScript. That standard syntax leaves the semantics of module identifiers up to the host environment, so leaders in the web community had to come to consensus for how to do them in browsers (and Node.js had to figure out how to do it in Node.js, etc.), so there was a bit of a delay between ES2015 coming out and your being able to use that syntax natively (though Webpack, Rollup, and such handled it).

There are some use cases where ES2015's static syntax doesn't quite do the job, so there's the import() (dynamic import) proposal which is already supported in some environments and will be in ES2020.

Upvotes: 5

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