ECMAScript or ESM modules are the official way of developing JavaScript software today and many projects and libraries are moving towards this format to leverage its advantages.
Support for CommonJS, which was the de facto standard for NodeJS projects so far, is even being dropped by some famous libs
Following are some of the advantages
- Performance Improvement:
- Static Resolution: ESM modules are resolved statically at compile time(parsing time), improving performance compared to CommonJS's dynamic resolution.
- Top-Level Await: ESM allows you to use await at the top level of a module, enabling asynchronous operations without the need for callbacks or promises.
- Cleaner Syntax:
- Import/Export Statements: ESM uses cleaner and more readable import and export statements, eliminating the need for module.exports and require().
- Default Exports: ESM supports default exports, simplifying module usage.
- Native Support for Tree Shaking:
- Eliminate Unused Code: ESM natively supports tree shaking, a process that removes unused code from your final bundle, resulting in smaller and faster applications.
- Better Interoperability:
- Web Compatibility: ESM is aligned with the web's module system, making it easier to share code between Node.js and the browser.
- Future-Proof:
- ECMA Standard: ESM is an official ECMA standard, ensuring its long-term support and adoption in the JavaScript ecosystem.
- Enhanced Tooling:
- Bundlers and Linter: ESM is better supported by modern bundlers and linters, providing better developer experience and tooling capabilities.
Migration is not expected to be complex as IDEs like VSCode automatically converts the imports. Since cxserver has fairly good unit test coverage, we can verify too.