TypeScript Modules

What is a module?

Any of a number of distinct but interrelated units from which a program may be built up or into which a complex activity may be analysed. -- Oxford English Dictionary

tl;dr: A unit of code.

Why would I use modules?

Modules help us to:

• write maintainable and testable code.
• write reusable code.

Like a good author will divide a book into chapters good programmers split a program into modules. -- Somebody, probably

Modules in TypeScript

^ Before a few years ago, no support for modules existed in the TypeScript language.

^ Competing Standards Emerge

CommonJS Modules

This is the most widely used method of defining modules, used in node and npm packages, but it doesn't work well in the browser.

Asynchronous Module Definition (AMD)

More complicated to use but designed to work well in the browser with a loading library, e.g. require.js.

ECMAScript 6 Modules

An attempt at supporting the best of both worlds:

• A compact, simple syntax
• Asynchronous loading for browsers

Can I use ES6 Modules today?

The short answer? Kind of.

What does a module look like?

// lib/randomInteger.ts
function randomInteger(min: number, max: number) {
  min = Math.ceil(min)
  max = Math.floor(max)
  return Math.floor(Math.random() * (max - min)) + min
}
export default randomInteger
// main.ts
import randomInteger from './lib/randomInteger'
const role = randomInteger(0, 6) + 1
console.log(`You just rolled a ${role}!`)

Modules can export more than one thing

// lib/util.ts
export function squareRoot(number: number) {
  return Math.sqrt(number)
}
export function square(x: number) {
  return x * x
}
export function diagonalLength(x: number, y: number) {
  return squareRoot(square(x) + square(y))
}
// main.ts
import { diagonalLength } from './lib/util'
console.log(diagonalLength(4, 3)) // -> 5

See, modules are easy!