microsoft / microsoft/TypeScript
Shouldn't TypeScript be able to polyfill `import defer` with `Proxy` to work with `"module": "commonjs"`?
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Description
### 🔍 Search Terms
import defer commonjs
import defer require
### ✅ Viability Checklist
- [x] This wouldn't be a breaking change in existing TypeScript/JavaScript code
- [x] This wouldn't change the runtime behavior of existing JavaScript code
- [x] This could be implemented without emitting different JS based on the types of the expressions
- [x] This isn't a runtime feature (e.g. library functionality, non-ECMAScript syntax with JavaScript output, new syntax sugar for JS, etc.)
- [x] This isn't a request to add a new utility type: https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/wiki/No-New-Utility-Types
- [x] This feature would agree with the rest of our Design Goals: https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/wiki/TypeScript-Design-Goals
### ⭐ Suggestion
Since the TypeScript beta announcement, I tried it in the playground. But setting `"module"` to `"commonjs"` sadly revealed that `import defer` only work with `"module": "esnext"` or `"module": "preserve"`.
But `Proxy` can polyfill this exact behavior.
### 📃 Motivating Example
This code:
```typescript
import defer * as MyModule from 'my-module'
```
should output something like this:
```javascript
let _module
const MyModule = new Proxy({}, {
get(_target, prop) {
if (!_module) {
_module = require('my-module') // the real code would obviously more complicated as it needs to force `_module` to be an object
}
return _module[prop]
}
})
```
### 💻 Use Cases
1. What do you want to use this for? Using `import defer` for legacy targets
2. What shortcomings exist with current approaches? `await import` forces `Promise`
3. What workarounds are you using in the meantime? `await import`
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start by tracing how TypeScript handles `import defer` when `module` is `commonjs`, and compare that with the existing `esnext` and `preserve` behavior. Use the motivating `Proxy` example and the stated legacy-target use case to define the expected output, then add coverage showing whether synchronous deferred access works without introducing `Promise`.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- javascript, typescript
- Domain
- compilers
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 28/100