Default Exports

Part of the Node.js Basics section of Coddy's Node.js journey. Lesson 7 of 24.

store.js is about one thing, the store, and the file that imports it should not care what it is called inside.

export default marks the one value a file is about. The importer gives it any name and writes no braces:

// config.js
const config = { port: 3000 };
export default config;

// app.js
import settings from './config.js';
console.log(settings.port);

Braces ask for a named export, so import { config } from './config.js' fails here: config.js names nothing. Use a default export for a file's main value and named exports for a file of helpers.

Challenge

Easy

Make store the default export of store.js.
add saves the note with store.add(text) and prints Adding: 4. Buy bread.
list prints every note in the store with formatNote.

Run node notes.js add Buy bread, then list: the new note is gone, because nothing is saved yet.

Try it yourself

// The notes live here until chapter 3 saves them to a file.
const store = {
    notes: ['Buy milk', 'Call Ada', 'Water the plants'],
    add(text) {
        this.notes.push(text);
        return this.notes.length;
    },
};

// Make store the default export of this file.