CommonJS

CommonJS is a project with the goal of specifying an ecosystem for JavaScript outside the browser (for example, on the server or for native desktop applications).

History

The project was started by Mozilla engineer Kevin Dangoor in January 2009 and initially named ServerJS.[1]

“ What I’m describing here is not a technical problem. It’s a matter of people getting together and making a decision to step forward and start building up something bigger and cooler together. ”

— Kevin Dangoor[1]

In August 2009, the project was renamed CommonJS to show the broader applicability of the APIs.[2] Specifications are created and approved in an open process. A specification is only considered final after it has been finished by multiple implementations.[3] CommonJS is not affiliated with the Ecma International group TC39 working on ECMAScript, but some members of TC39 participate in the project.[4]

In May 2013, Isaac Z. Schlueter, the author of npm, the package manager for Node.js, made a statement to the effect of CommonJS being obsoleted by Node.js, and dispreferred by the core Node.js developers.[5]

Specifications

The list of specifications includes:[6]

Current

  • Modules/1.0 (Superseded by Modules/1.1)
  • Modules/1.1
  • Modules/1.1.1
  • Packages/1.0
  • Promises/B
  • Promises/C
  • System/1.0

Proposals

  • Binary/B
  • Binary/F
  • Console
  • Encodings/A
  • Filesystem/A
  • Filesystem/A/0
  • Modules/Async/A
  • Modules/Transport/B
  • Packages/1.1
  • Packages/Mappings
  • Unit Testing/1.0

Implementations

References

See also

External links