jashkenas/coffeescript

Docs: Document best practice for creating a small NPM module

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#4,693 opened on Sep 9, 2017

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 (5 comments) (4 reactions) (0 assignees)CoffeeScript (16,577 stars) (1,980 forks)batch import
help wanted

Description

When creating a small npm package for something like strscan, what is the modern/CS2/best-practices way to structure the repo? I'm looking for something that has a small Cakefile and src, lib, and tests directories (if those are recommended).

For example, Sam Stephenson's CoffeeScript based strscan package from 2010 looks like this:

Yet, we're 7 years later with many updates to Node, NPM, and now CoffeeScript. Would someone be able to provide a modern best-practices repo for building a simple package that could be included from other CoffeeScript or JS code simply using require 'some-package'?

If so, it might be nice to have a small reference to this in the official documentation.

Thanks!

Contributor guide

Tech stack
None
Domain
documentation
Issue type
documentation
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
CoffeeScriptnpmNode.js
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
70
Research direction
This issue requests a documentation best practice guide for creating a small CoffeeScript npm module. Look at the official CoffeeScript documentation structure (e.g., /docs) and existing examples like strscan js. Consider updating to modern Node and npm practices, and ensure the guide covers directory layout, Cakefile, and module export patterns. Since the issue is stale, engage maintainers to assess current relevance and preferred approach.