Learning JavaScript Design Patterns, 2nd Edition

Chapter 5. Modern JavaScript Syntax and Features

JavaScript has been around for many decades now and has undergone multiple revisions. This book explores design patterns in the modern JavaScript context and uses modern ES2015+ syntax for all the examples discussed. This chapter discusses ES2015+ JavaScript features and syntax essential to further our discussion of design patterns in the current JavaScript context.

Note

Some fundamental changes were introduced to JavaScript syntax with ES2015 that are especially relevant to our discussion on patterns. These are covered well in the BabelJS ES2015 guide.

This book relies on modern JavaScript syntax. You may also be curious about TypeScript. TypeScript, a statically typed superset of JavaScript, offers several language features that JavaScript does not. These features include strong typing, interfaces, enums, and advanced type inference and can also influence design patterns. To learn more about TypeScript and its benefits, consider checking out some O’Reilly books such as Programming TypeScript by Boris Cherny.

The Importance of Decoupling Applications

Modular JavaScript allows you to logically split your application into smaller pieces called modules. A module can be imported by other modules that, in turn, can be imported by more modules. Thus, the application can be composed of many nested modules.

In the world of scalable JavaScript, when we say an application is modular, we often mean it’s composed of a set of highly decoupled, ...