Difference Between data-main and normal script loading

Question

When using RequireJS, what\'s the difference between including your script with

Answer 1

data-main is for when you want to have a single entry point to your application. That single script line will load RequireJS along with scripts/main.js and kick off your app.

The result of

is that is appended to the document at runtime; this is the script that will contain your require.config() block and pull in your first application script. If you don't specify a data-main, then you're only loading Require and none of your app scripts, unless you explicitly load a config file and the first module.

What do you think Require will load if you don't tell it to load anything?

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If you do not use data-main, you must provide an entry point after loading Require (this is how I have always done it, for no good reason other than that's how I learned it.) Read about the configuration options to see how you would do this.

I use this pattern in development:

As a single entry point, the contents of config.js and the subsequent require(['js/main']) call would be in whichever script is referenced as data-main.

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If you use the static optimizer to build a production bundle, none of this matters because you just load the bundle.