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Discussion on: How I Structure My JavaScript File

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leob profile image
leob

Great ideas/advice, I like this way of organizing it!

Personally I'm still not completely decided on the semicolons, but I now tend to go with whatever the consensus is within a certain framework/community, so as to stay at least consistent within that context.

For instance, the Vue.js community has a (strong) tendency to omit semicolons, so I omit them when writing Vue code. Then on the backend (e.g. Express or Feathers) I'll probably add the semicolons because folks tend to use them there.

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antjanus profile image
Antonin J. (they/them)

I think that's the way to go with semicolons and code-styles in general. But if I have a choice, I stick to them. I had no idea that Vue was against semicolons. I think just like the browser automatically inserts them where they should be, so do I when I read code haha.

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leob profile image
leob

Yes, technically it doesn't matter, the JS compiler will insert them for you ... it's a matter of taste but people in the JS world make a big deal about it (as you probably know).

The creator of Vue (Evan You) is strongly "anti semicolon" so Vue code that people write almost never has semicolons. Most node.js code (backend) has them but even there I see it applied inconsistently. React programmers sometimes use them and sometimes don't.

I just go with the flow and with whatever people use. I think the sort of structure for a javascript like you described is more useful than the whole semicolon discussion.

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antjanus profile image
Antonin J. (they/them) • Edited

I had no idea Evan had that preference haha. I've used Vue since version 0.10 or 0.0.10 or something like that, very early version. I never noticed the lack of semicolons so I bet my Vue code would look horrendous to Vue programmers haha.

But yeah, this is why I added the semicolon thing all the way at the end, it's not really important, just a personal preference. To me, a semicolon is like a period at the end of a sentence so I feel the need to add it.

As you can imagine, when I write Go, the compiler constantly screams at me.

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leob profile image
leob

I first met a semicolon-less fan when doing a React project, he had a strong opinion about everything, not just about semicolons ... I have to say that when you follow a certain style (without the semicolons), JS almost starts looking a bit like Ruby, kind of nice. But I'm in no way religious about it, on the contrary (opportunistic).