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copied!<p>The dependency array format:</p> <pre><code>define(["a", "b", "c"], function (a, b, c) { }); </code></pre> <p>can indeed be annoying and error-prone. Matching up the array entries to function parameters is a real pain.</p> <p>I prefer the <code>require</code> format (<a href="http://requirejs.org/docs/api.html#cjsmodule" rel="nofollow noreferrer">"Simplified CommonJS Wrapper"</a>):</p> <pre><code>define(function (require) { var a = require("a"); var b = require("b"); var c = require("c"); }); </code></pre> <p>This keeps your lines short and allows you to rearrange/delete/add lines without having to remember to change things in two places.</p> <p>The latter format will not work on PS3 and older Opera mobile browsers, but hopefully you don't care.</p> <hr> <p>As for why doing this instead of manually namespacing objects, @peller's answer gives a good overview of why modularity is a good thing, and <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9164326/whats-the-benefit-of-the-dojo-1-7-amd-framework/9165074#9165074">my answer to a similar question</a> talks about why AMD and module systems as a way of achieving modularity are a good thing.</p> <p>The only thing I would add to @peller's answer is to expand on "paying attention to dependencies actually makes for much better code." If your module requires too many other modules, that's a bad sign! We have a loose rule in our 72K LOC JavaScript codebase that a module should be ~100 lines long and require between zero and four dependencies. It's served us well.</p>

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