Node.js supports require()/module.exports, but as of ES6, JavaScript supports a new more readable and flexible syntax for exporting modules. These are usually broken down into one of two techniques, default export and named exports.
We’ll begin with the first syntax, default export. The default export syntax works similarly to the module.exports syntax, allowing us to export one module per file.
Let’s look at an example in menu.js.
export defaultuses the JavaScriptexportstatement to export JavaScript objects, functions, and primitive data types.Menurefers to the name of theMenuobject, the object that we are setting the properties on within our modules.
When using ES6 syntax, we use export default in place of module.exports. Node.js doesn’t support export default by default, so module.exports is usually used for Node.js development and ES6 syntax is used for front-end development. As with most ES6 features, it is common to transpile code since ES6 is not supported by all browsers.
Instructions
In airplane.js, let’s again create an Airplane module from scratch, this time exporting the module with export default. Create an object to represent the module called Airplane.
Now that we have an object Airplane, we can continue by adding data in the form of properties and values to the Airplane module.
Create an availableAirplanes variable and set it equal to an empty array. Be sure that availableAirplanes is a property of the Airplane object.
In the availableAirplanes array, add two array elements that are both of type object.
The first object should contain a property name with a value 'AeroJet' and a property fuelCapacity with a value of 800.
The second object should have a property name with a value of SkyJet and a property fuelCapacity with a value of 500.
Use export default to export the Airplane module.
Nice work! We added a property that lists the availableAirplanes to the Airplane module.