JavaScript Project Generator

A command line tool to create new JavaScript projects.

Goals

The main goal is to create a standard JavaScript project structure. Creating a JavaScript project is a lot of times filled with impedances on which tools to use and how to structure a project. In this way, jspg is an attempt to remove these impedances. Moving from project to project will be easier as well. You will learning the code and not how to run the project. Customization within the contraints of the project is a goal here as well. For example, if you want to use a different linter, install it and update the lint npm script definition. That way the tool changes, but the use of a linter in your project does not. Using a different tool should not have to alter the way you interact with your project.

Inspiration

The main inspiration is ember-cli. I think the Ember team has done an excellent job on defining a consistent project structure and default tooling. I think the same experience should be brought to all JavaScript projects.

Installation

npm install -g jspg

Usage

jspg <app_name> - Creates a new JavaScript project. This is used for either creating a node or JavaScript library project jspg <app_name> -w - Creates a new JavaScript web project. This is used for defining a frontend project

Code

Designed so that you can write your code and tests in ES2015 JavaScript. jsx is allowed as well.

Tools

This project by default uses standard, popular tools for:

• Linting: standard
• Building: webpack Uses Babel-loader with es2015 and react presets
• Testing: mocha
• Documentation: jsdoc

Scripts

Projects use npm to run scripts above:

• npm run lint: runs linter
• npm run build: runs builder
• npm run dev: In web projects this runs development server. For library projects, this watches for changes and runs tests
• npm run clean: cleans build folder
• npm run test: runs tests
• npm run docs: runs documentation generator

These are the defaults. If one wanted to change the tool used, the idea would be to:

1. Add the tool to the project
2. Update the existing npm script to use new tool (or create new npm script if new functionality)

This allows for the commands to stay consistent, but the functionality to change.

Structure

The structure of projects is defined below:

• app/ - The src folder. This is where you would write your code
• app/app.js - The entry point to your application.
• app/<app_name> - This would be where all of your other code would go.
• tests/ - The test folder. All of your tests would go here
• tests/app-test.js - An example test for app/app.js
• .babelrc - The babel configuration file
• .gitignore
• package.json - The project's package.json. This is also where the above npm scripts are defined.
• build/ - Build ends up here when npm run build is executed. The files here would be what should be served or used for production
• docs/ - Documentation ends up here when npm run docs is executed

Library projects include the following:

• webpack.config.js - The webpack configuration

Web projects include the following:

• app/index.html - The starting html page
• app/<app_name>/styles.css - The styles for your application
• webpack.config.base.js - The base webpack configuration. This is used to share configuration between dev and prod builds
• webpack.config.dev.js - The development webpack configuration. This includes a development server and hot code reload functionality
• webpack.config.prod.js - The production webpack configuration