Native Require Support

[alongubkin]

Add native require support to Spider.

Proposed Syntax

require "util"

require (
  "vm",
  "lodash" as _,
  "jashkenas/backbone" // GitHub repo
)

is compiled to:

var util = require("util"),
    vm = require("vm"),
    _ = require("lodash"),
    backbone = require("backbone"); // after the compiler automatically installs the package

The require statement would also automatically use the added identifier so there's no need for :: and use.

Problems

• How does this work in the Browser?
• How to combine this with ES6 modularisation features?
• Should we use DuoJS by default (which solves the first issue)?

[zekesonxx]

I think forcing users into using Spider's package system would be bad. What about having it default to compiling to var as = require('package'), and then allowing it to be overridden.

For example:

require 'util'

defaults to

var util = require('util');

but adding --require="var %a = duojs('%s');" results in

var util = duojs('util');

or --require="document.write('%s as %a');" results in

document.write('util as util');

[nmn]

Isn't this problem solved by ES6 modules syntax?

[alongubkin]

This was proposed before adding ES6 modules to the language. The reason I'm not closing this yet is because I still feel CommonJS support is necessary

[nmn]

Maybe this is a feature for the cli rather than for syntax? ES6 module syntax can just be transpired into Cjs?

Too many module syntax's = confusion.