Modular JavaScript in an OSGi world

What percentage of your web-app is written in JavaScript? Don’t be surprised if it’s more than half of your codebase. With the advent of HTML5 and single-page-applications driven by RESTful backends, the amount of JavaScript keeps growing. On the Java side, OSGi allows us to create modular, flexible applications. But how does this translate to the client-side? Isn’t a ‘single-page-application’ fundamentally at odds with modularity?

In this session we take a look at the currently available tools for modularity in JavaScript. There are several ways you can combine existing JavaScript module systems with OSGi-based development on the backend. We discuss tradeoffs between these different approaches based on real-world experience with large JavaScript front-ends and OSGi back-ends. In particular an example combining OSGi, RequireJS and AngularJS is presented. Along with practical advice based on current technology, we also look forward at relevant upcoming standards such as Web Components. After this session you’ll have a solid grasp of modular JavaScript development in an OSGi world.