"dependencies" section lacks details

[knutkj]

I think that the "dependencies" section is missing some details. What is special with the dependency name "exports"? What should happen if a module definition lists the "exports" dependency, and at the same time its factory function returns a value? Here is an example of that behavior:

https://github.com/Reactive-Extensions/RxJS-DOM/blob/921c35a28265466cda7fc2dcdbacfe688efcd456/rx.dom.js#L25

Should the return value of the factory function be used in this case, or should you save the "exports" object as the module value?

[ghost]

You asked:

What should happen if a module definition lists the "exports" dependency, and at the same time its factory function returns a value?

Answered here:

If the factory function returns a value (an object, function, or any value that coerces to true), then that value should be assigned as the exported value for the module.

This means the exports module will be ignored.

---

AMD has a priority for the different exports variations (low - high):

• if ["exports"] is in the dependencies list exports will be exported
• if ["module"] is in the dependencies list module.exports will be exported, note that module.exports and exports are the same object if module.exports is not reassigned within the factory
• if factory function returns a value (an object, function, or any value that coerces to true) it will be exported

---

The modules ["require", "exports", "module"] are based on the CommonJS modules specification.

Example of CommonJS module:

var foo = require("foo"),
    bar = require("bar");

exports.foo = foo;
exports.bar = bar;

Convert it to AMD:

define(["require", "exports", "module", "foo", "bar"], function (require, exports, module) {
    var foo = require("foo"),
        bar = require("bar");

    exports.foo = foo;
    exports.bar = bar;
});