One-line node modules

[hemanth]

Lot of people don't get the benefits of one line modules, what would you say to those who tend to critic a lot about node modules that have just a line in them?

[daryl]

I'm curious about this too, I see some modules and wonder why they're at all necessary.

This one (not by you) is a good example.

[barangutan]

I'm also curious about this. In particular, referring to user-home as one of your examples?

[sindresorhus]

Blog post.

tl;dr You make small focused modules for reusability and to make it possible to build larger more advanced things that are easier to reason about.

[arthurvr]

This is why I wish you had a blog :p I never was able to explain it that well. Good job.

[sarbbottam]

👍

[barangutan]

I guess my question (and this is a legitimate question as I'm relatively new to nodejs!) was, do you see a legitimate reason for splitting user-home out from os-homedir? I mean, obviously you do as you've done it that way, but I was wondering why you just didn't just include a cached version in the original os-homedir

[bahmutov]

I often find that these simple tasks, like finding user's home folder, turn out to be very non-trivial and hairy the more the code gets used. Making a separate module right away allows to properly test and fix bugs, add features etc, as new issues absolutely will arise.

[spacecowb0y]

👍

[sindresorhus]

I guess my question (and this is a legitimate question as I'm relatively new to nodejs!) was, do you see a legitimate reason for splitting user-home out from os-homedir? I mean, obviously you do as you've done it that way, but I was wondering why you just didn't just include a cached version in the original os-homedir

The user-home module was made long before os-homedir. os-homedir was made recently as a polyfill of the forth-coming built-in API in Node. I just made user-home depend on it so it will benefit from the native API. I could of course deprecate user-home now, but there are so many projects depending on it now, it really isn't worth it. I also like how in user-home it's cached by default instead of having to call it as a function. However what you're asking isn't really relevant to the small module thinking. This is just a side-effect of evolution.

[barangutan]

Ok, thanks for the clarification! That makes a lot of sense. I just stumbled upon user-home today and my curiosity aligned perfectly with this AMA.

[sindresorhus]

I often find that these simple tasks, like finding user's home folder, turn out to be very non-trivial and hairy the more the code gets used.

👍 Every time :p

Everyone; Keep in mind that I've failed doing the right thing hundreds of times before realizing making a separate module would be a better thing.

[hackergrrl]

Everyone; Keep in mind that I've failed doing the right thing hundreds of times before realizing making a separate module would be a better thing.

This is always helpful to hear: that one's successes are generally built upon the rubble of past failures.