Cajon: a browser module loader for CommonJS/node/AMD modules

I just released the first version of Cajon. From the README:

Cajon is a JavaScript module loader for the browser that can load CommonJS/node and AMD modules. It is built on top of RequireJS.

You can use it to code modules for your project in CommonJS/node style, then use the RequireJS Optimizer to build all the modules into an AMD-compliant bundle. This allows you to then use a small AMD API shim, like almond, to get nicely optimized code without needing a full runtime loader.

See the README for more information and restrictions.

Why do this?

It is an experiment, to see what people like to build with. The attributes of AMD are needed for any comprehensive JavaScript module solution, but some people really like sugar, and the sugared form of AMD may not be enough for them. They also may want to use existing CommonJS/node modules as-is but still want to get a good, optimized/built story, and something that works well cross-domain in the browser.

This experiment goes along with the latest requirejs 2.0.2 optimizer setting, cjsTranslate, which will automatically convert CommonJS/node modules to have a define() wrapper, so they can be consumed by the optimizer. This would allow you, for example, to build a node command that watched your js lib folder as you did changes to modules in the CommonJS/node format, and build them into an optimized AMD bundle.

End result, if you cannot bring yourself to use AMD:

If you do not want to do builds during your CommonJS/node-based module development, use Cajon. If you like doing builds, you can now use the RequireJS optimizer (with the almond AMD shim) to do that.

To be clear: CommonJS/node modules as-is are not enough for a comprehensive JS module solution. These tools allow you to use them though and fill in the gaps by "compiling down" the code to AMD.