While a module system in JavaScript will be useful, this seems overly complicated. I like Lua's approach to modules. In Lua, a file is basically equivalent to

While a module system in JavaScript will be useful, this seems overly complicated. I like Lua's approach to modules. In Lua, a file is basically equivalent to a function body. It accepts arguments and can return values. In JavaScript, this is not allowed. In Lua, a function can accept multiple arguments in a tuple called `...`. Every file is implicitly a vararg function, so we can unpack the `...` to get arguments. > add.lua local a,b = ... return a + b > file.lua local add = load 'add.lua' print(add(1,2)) --> 3 load takes a file path and returns that source file as a function. Most files ignore arguments, but they do return values. > add2.lua return function(a,b) return a + b end > file2.lua local add = require 'add' print(add(1,2)) `require` loads a source file, executes it, and returns the value that it returns. It is similar to `return load(fileName)()`, but it also has a search mechanism, and caches the result. So, the Lua equivalent of export default is simply returning a value at the end of a source file. The named exports are also easy to replicate. You simply return an object with the keys you want. > math.lua return { add = function(a,b) return a + b end, sub = function(a,b) return a - b end } > other.lua local math = require 'math' local add, sub = math.add, math.sub You can also have something similar to the `export function name(){}` declaration. > hello.lua local exports = {} function exports.hello() print "Hello World" end exports.VERSION = '0.0.1' return exports > file3.lua local hello = require'hello'.hello local version = require'hello'.VERSION hello() --> Hello World In all, I think the Lua's require is a much cleaner way to implement modules. Unfortunately, it cannot handle circular references. It may be possible to add this feature using Lua's coroutines, however. I will have to research how it is handled in JavaScript to be sure.