difference between Dependency and DevDependencies

Introduction

There is a file named package.json present in every web project. It contains all the data needed for the project, which is also called metadata. All the dependencies needed for this project are present in that file. There are three types of dependencies present in that file. We are going to learn about only dependencies, and dev dependencies.

The following commands are used to run the projects:

npm init -y
{
“name”: “demo”,
“version”: “1.0.0”,
“main”: “index.js”,
“scripts” :{
 “tests”: “echo” Error: no test specified” && exit 1 “
},
“author”: “”,
“license”: “ICS”,
“keyword”: [],
“description”: “”
}

Dependencies

There is an object called dependencies in the file project.json. It contains all the related information needed for the web development project, including the version name. So whenever we install the library file for any project, we must find the project.json file. 

Syntax:  

npm install 

We can install the project by using the following command:

npm install moment

After the module installation is complete then we can start the structure of the package.json file by using the following command:

“dependencies”: {
“moment”: “2.23.0”
},

DevDependencies

There is an object called dev dependencies in the file project.json. It contains all the related information that is used for the development proposal. So whenever we install the development file for any project, we must find the project.json file. 

We can add more dev dependencies files by using the following command.

npm install  --save-dev

Example

We can install the bootstrap module that is used only for development proposed by using the following command.

npm install bootstrap --save-dev

After completion of the installation of the bootstrap package, then we can start the installation of the version of the package.json file by using the following command.

“devDependencies”: {
“bootstrap”: “4.3.1”
},

Now we can summarize the difference between dependencies and dev dependencies below.

Dependencies vs. devDependencies

Dependencies	devDependencies
It is a library package that is used for the project to need to function effectively.	It is a development package for the project to the project’s development.
If a package does not have any node file, then it automatically adds the node file.	If we install the npm package, then dev dependencies automatically installs all the required files.
When we run the program, then these library files are needed.	These packages are needed during the development phase, not in the execution phase.
The package includes the final code.	It also includes the final code.
Dependencies can be added to your project by running the below command. npm install	Dev dependencies can be added to your project by running the below command. npm install --save-dev