JavaScript projects

Packages and build process

Start simple, keep simple.

• CommonJS modules
• Browserify
• npm run scripts
• Makefile
• simple build script

State

Remove all state from modules.

• DI
• Schedulers for timers etc.
• Use an explicit messaging in view hierarchy

Components

Create independent component views.

• React
• structure assets (js, css/scss, images) by component

Promises

Include a proper Promise library and use it everywhere in async functions.

• Q, native Promises + prollyfill, etc.
• Always resolve with a single value
• Always reject with an instance of Error
• Always either end the chain (like Q's done()) or return a promise
• Be careful with nesting in promise chains, keep the chain shallow

Errors

Use custom Error types.

• Extend Error object properly
• Do custom error checking in Promise chains
• Bubble errors in the defined messaging hierarchy

Documentation

Use JsDoc (?).

• Generate documentation

• Help tern.js etc. in autocompletion

• Google Closure compiler + type annotations?

  • Override e.g. DEBUG mode from command line to remove logging?
  • Use with JsDoc for type checking

Miscellaneous

• Lint everything (JSHint, ESLint, JSCS)
• Use null instead of undefined as an explicit missing value, undefined for something that is not yet defined