Ciclos

[~/javascript/node.js/creating_modules/cycles(master)]$ cat a.js
console.log('a starting');
exports.done = false;
var b = require('./b.js');
console.log('in a, b.done = %j', b.done);
exports.done = true;
console.log('a done');

[~/javascript/node.js/creating_modules/cycles(master)]$ cat b.js
console.log('b starting');
exports.done = false;
var a = require('./a.js');
console.log('in b, a.done = %j', a.done);
exports.done = true;
console.log('b done');

[~/javascript/node.js/creating_modules/cycles(master)]$ cat main.js
console.log('main starting');
var a = require('./a.js');
var b = require('./b.js');
console.log('in main, a.done=%j, b.done=%j', a.done, b.done);

When main.js loads a.js, then a.js in turn loads b.js. At that point, b.js tries to load a.js. In order to prevent an infinite loop an unfinished copy of the a.js exports object is returned to the b.js module. b.js then finishes loading, and its exports object is provided to the a.js module.

By the time main.js has loaded both modules, they're both finished. The output of this program would thus be:

[~/javascript/node.js/creating_modules/cycles(master)]$ node main.js 
main starting
a starting
b starting
in b, a.done = false
b done
in a, b.done = true
a done
in main, a.done=true, b.done=true