Node.js - use of module.exports as a constructor

user_293680 0
Viewed 140796

According to the Node.js manual:

If you want the root of your module's export to be a function (such as a constructor) or if you want to export a complete object in one assignment instead of building it one property at a time, assign it to module.exports instead of exports.

The example given is:

// file: square.js
module.exports = function(width) {
  return {
    area: function() {
      return width * width;
    }
  };
}

and used like this:

var square = require('./square.js');
var mySquare = square(2);
console.log('The area of my square is ' + mySquare.area());

My question: why does the example not use square as an object? Is the following valid and does it make the example more "object oriented"?

var Square = require('./square.js');
var mySquare = new Square(2);
console.log('The area of my square is ' + mySquare.area());
commonjs node.js javascript
5 Answers

At the end, Node is about Javascript. JS has several way to accomplished something, is the same thing to get an "constructor", the important thing is to return a function.

This way actually you are creating a new function, as we created using JS on Web Browser environment for example.

Personally i prefer the prototype approach, as Sukima suggested on this post: Node.js - use of module.exports as a constructor

user_36856110
Related