What is the proper way to include modules in Javascript?

Question

I am using quite a bit of javascript in which it would be rather helpful if I could use global constants and a few methods that I use all over my web site.

Instead of having to copy and paste these into each js file, is there a way to include them?

like:

#include global.js

jsCode

Answer 1

There are multiple techniques for module architecture

• include multiple script tags and use namespaces to avoid global scope issues
• use asynchronous file loaders like requireJS
• use module packagers like modul8

The latter techniques are probably overkill, you probally want a

<script src="global.js" />

in your html master page.

Answer 2

Unfortunately, there's no standard JavaScript way to include one JavaScript file into another JavaScript file (I believe this is one of those lovely JavaScript's peculiarities.)

But, before you start to choose work-around, note that it's often considered a good practice to merge JavaScript files all over the project into a single big file (in short, this technique reduces number of HTTP requests and improves performance, for more explanations and caveats see Merging multiple javascript files .)