es6 modules native support

Question

I understand the ES6 modules specification, the question is about its support. AFAIK, there are no browsers that implement this natively (see Browser compatibility here). Got a couple of questions about this:

ES6 modules is an ES6 feature, obviously. When I look at kangax compatibility table, I don't see such row (for ES6 modules) at all, why is that? It's a ES6 feature afterall...
hence, the only way to use ES6 right now is to use a build tool, such as babel, browserify or any other aternative, right?
how are the modules gonna be fetched, when they're natively supported - as async AJAX calls from the browser?

The first question is unanswerable, especially here on SO… — deceze, Aug 25 '16 at 11:46
I would recommend using Webpack in combination with Babel. Webpack will answer second and third question. — Niels Steenbeek, Aug 25 '16 at 11:47

Supersharp · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-26T08:09:31.057

3

ES6 modules is an ES6 feature, obviously. When I look at kangax compatibility table, I don't see such row (for ES6 modules) at all, why is that?

There's an issue being discussed on kangax's github.

the only way to use ES6 right now is to use a build tool, such as babel, browserify or any other aternative, right?

No. There is also a polyfill by Guy Bedford at http://github.com/ModuleLoader/browser-es-module-loader.

And there's already the preview release of Edge that implements it natively.

how are the modules gonna be fetched, when they're natively supported - as async AJAX calls from the browser?

Yes but not exactly: they will be fetched when the are used for the first time, by a call to an object (a function or a property) on the imported library.

edited Sep 26 '16 at 08:09

answered Sep 25 '16 at 14:31

Supersharp

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thanks! you proved that it **is** posible to answer such question on SO :) perfect! PS does the polyfill by Guy Bredford simulate exactly how should ES6 modules work, when they're natively supported (in terms of execution, not syntax)? – ducin Sep 26 '16 at 08:08
@ducin I'm not sure but I don't think it's possible. I guess it works more like ajax async. This could be ckecked with Dev Tools. – Supersharp Sep 26 '16 at 08:19

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 03 '17 at 16:26

Native modules are available in the following versions of browsers:

Safari 10.1
Chrome Canary 60 – behind the Experimental Web Platform flag in chrome:flags.
Firefox 54 – behind the dom.moduleScripts.enabled setting in about:config.
Edge 15 – behind the Experimental JavaScript Features setting in about:flags.

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es6 modules native support

2 Answers2