alamode

alamode

alamode is a RegExp-based transpiler of source code in Node.js. It is a fast, low-weight alternative to AST-based transpilers, such as @babel.

yarn add -DE alamode

Table Of Contents

• Table Of Contents
• Installation
  • Global
  • Project
• CLI
  • Output Location
  • Watch Mode
  • Show Help
  • Show Version
  • NODE_DEBUG
• Transforms
  • @a-la/import
  • @a-la/export
• Copyright

Installation

The software can be installed either as a global dependency, or as a project dependency.

Global

When installed globally, it will be used directly via a binary, such as alamode src -o build.

Package Manager	Installation
npm	npm i -g alamode
yarn	yarn add global alamode

Project

When installed in a project, it will be used via the package.json script, e.g., yarn build or npm run build.

// package.json
{
  "name": "project",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "An example project",
  "main": "build",
  "scripts": {
    "build": "alamode src -o build"
  },
  "files": ["build"],
  "license": "MIT"
}

Package Manager	Installation
npm	npm i --save-dev alamode
yarn	yarn add -DE alamode

CLI

The binary accepts a path to a single file, or a directory with the source code as the first argument, and a path to the build folder via -o argument.

alamode src -o build

There are other arguments which can be passed.

Property	Argument	Description
Output Location	-o, --output	Where to save transpiled code. Passing - will print to stdout.
Watch Mode	-w, --watch	Keep alamode running and re-build on chages.
Show Help	-h, --help	Display help information and quit.
Show Version	-v, --version	Display version number and quit.

Setting the NODE_DEBUG environmental variable to alamode will print the list of processed files to the stderr.

$ NODE_DEBUG=alamode alamode src -o build

ALAMODE 97955: index.js
ALAMODE 97955: bin/catcher.js
ALAMODE 97955: bin/index.js
ALAMODE 97955: bin/register.js
ALAMODE 97955: lib/index.js

Transforms

There are a number of built-in transforms, which don't need to be installed separetely because their size is small enough to be included as direct dependencies.

@a-la/import

Changes all import statements into require statements. Although the specification between the ECMAScript Modules and Modules is different, most developers will prefer to use import just because of its neater syntax.

import argufy from 'argufy'
import restream, {
  Replaceable,
  makeMarkers, makeCutRule, makePasteRule,
} from 'restream'
import { resolve, join } from 'path'
import { version } from '../../package.json'

let argufy = require('argufy'); if (argufy && argufy.__esModule) argufy = argufy.default;
let restream = require('restream'); if (restream && restream.__esModule) restream = restream.default;
const {
  Replaceable,
  makeMarkers, makeCutRule, makePasteRule,
} = restream
const { resolve, join } = require('path')
const { version } = require('../../package.json')

The if (dependency && dependency.__esModule) dependency = dependency.default; check is there to make alamode compatible with babel, which will export default modules in the default property of module.exports object and add the __esModule marker.

@a-la/export

Transforms all export statements into module.exports statements.

export async function example () {}

const example2 = () => {}

export default class Example {
  constructor() {
    example()
  }
}

export { example2 as alias }

async function example () {}

const example2 = () => {}

class Example {
  constructor() {
    example()
  }
}

module.exports = Example
module.exports.example = example
module.exports.alias = example2

There are some limitations one should be aware about, however they will not typically cause problems for a Node.JS package.

Copyright

(c) À La Mode 2018

Changelog

1.1.0

• [feature] Working CLI with import and export transforms.
• [test] Integration tests.
• [doc] Documentation of the usage and transforms.

25 July 2018