ES6 Module Transpiler 
NOTE: This project been deprecated in favor of Babel & Rollup.
This project is part of esnext, which has merged with Babel. All the features
of esnext are supported by Babel, and more. All the tests from esnext have been
ported over to Babel to ensure that switchers will have minimal code changes to
make. The maintainers of esnext will continue working on Babel to bring better
spec compliance, ES6 feature support, and performance. If you want a fast tool
with bundling support as found in this project, you should check out Rollup.
ES6 Module Transpiler is an experimental compiler that allows you to write your
JavaScript using a subset of the ES6 module syntax, and compile it into AMD or
CommonJS modules.
This compiler provides a way to experiment with ES6 syntax in real world
scenarios to see how the syntax holds up. It also provides a nicer, more
declarative way to write AMD (or CommonJS) modules.
See the CHANGELOG for the latest updates.
Usage
Build tools
The easiest way to use the transpiler is from an existing build tool. There
several plugins developed for different build tools:
- Grunt: grunt-es6-module-transpiler, maintained by @joefiorini (not yet compatible with v0.5.x)
- Gulp: gulp-es6-module-transpiler, maintained by @ryanseddon
- Brunch: es6-module-transpiler-brunch, maintained by @gcollazo (CommonJS only) (not yet compatible with v0.5.x)
- Broccoli: broccoli-es6-concatenator, maintained by @joliss (not yet compatible with v0.5.x)
- Mimosa: mimosa-es6-module-transpiler, maintained by @dbashford (not yet compatible with v0.5.x)
- AMD Formatter: es6-module-transpiler-amd-formatter, maintained by @caridy (compatible with v0.5.x+ only)
Executable
The transpiler can be used directly from the command line:
$ npm install -g es6-module-transpiler
$ compile-modules convert foo.js
Here is the basic usage:
compile-modules convert -I lib -o out FILE [FILE…]
Library
You can also use the transpiler as a library:
var transpiler = require('es6-module-transpiler');
var Container = transpiler.Container;
var FileResolver = transpiler.FileResolver;
var BundleFormatter = transpiler.formatters.bundle;
var container = new Container({
resolvers: [new FileResolver(['lib/'])],
formatter: new BundleFormatter()
});
container.getModule('index');
container.write('out/mylib.js');
Supported ES6 Module Syntax
Named Exports
There are two types of exports. Named exports like the following:
// foobar.js
var foo = 'foo', bar = 'bar';
export { foo, bar };
This module has two named exports, foo and bar.
You can also write this form as:
// foobar.js
export var foo = 'foo';
export var bar = 'bar';
Either way, another module can then import your exports like so:
import { foo, bar } from 'foobar';
console.log(foo); // 'foo'
Default Exports
You can also export a default export. For example, an ES6ified jQuery might
look like this:
// jquery.js
var jQuery = function() {};
jQuery.prototype = {
// ...
};
export default jQuery;
Then, an app that uses jQuery could import it with:
import $ from 'jquery';
The default export of the "jquery" module is now aliased to $.
A default export makes the most sense as a module's "main" export, like the
jQuery object in jQuery. You can use default and named exports in parallel.
Other Syntax
import "foo";
A "bare import" that doesn't import any identifiers is useful for executing
side effects in a module. For example:
// alerter.js
alert("alert! alert!");
// alertee.js
import "alerter"; // will pop up alert box
Compiled Output
Default Exports
This is super important:
Default exports bind to an identifier on the module called default!
Internally, the transpiler will use this default identifer when importing, but
any outside consumer needs to be aware that it should use the default key and
not the module itself. For example, a CommonJS consumer should look like this:
var $ = require('jquery')['default'];
Installation
Add this project to your application's package.json by running this:
$ npm install --save es6-module-transpiler
Or install it globally:
$ npm install -g es6-module-transpiler
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Yehuda Katz for
js_module_transpiler, the
library on which this one is based. Thanks to Dave
Herman for his work on ES6 modules.
Thanks to Erik Bryn for providing the initial push
to write this library. Thanks to Domenic
Denicola, Jo Liss,
& Thomas Boyt for their efforts to make this
project even better. And finally thanks to the JavaScript community at Square
for helping to write and release this library.
Contributing
- Fork it
- Create your feature branch (
git checkout -b my-new-feature) - Commit your changes (
git commit -am 'Add some feature') - Push to the branch (
git push origin my-new-feature) - Create new Pull Request
Any contributors to the master es6-module-transpiler repository must sign the
Individual Contributor License Agreement (CLA). It's a short form that
covers our bases and makes sure you're eligible to contribute.
When you have a change you'd like to see in the master repository, send a pull
request. Before we merge
your request, we'll make sure you're in the list of people who have signed a
CLA.
Thanks, and enjoy living in the ES6 future!