Is a `requirejs-config.js` needed to include a JavaScript file? [duplicate]

Question

Many answers here on StackExchange and in documentation around the Internet indicate that to include a custom JavaScript file in a Magento 2 store that you should create a requirejs-config.js to specify a file alias that you will then separately reference to require it.

For example, you might have this requirejs-config.js file:

var config = {
   map: {
       '*': {
           myscript: 'My_Module/js/myscript',
       }
   }
};

And this in your PHTML:

<script type="text/javascript">
    require(['myscript'], function($) {
        // optional loaded callback here
    });
</script>

This works, but the question is:

Are both steps really necessary to include the JavaScript file?

Answer 1

No.

The require-config.js isn't needed. All it's doing is creating a simpler alias, so most of the time it's not worth it if your JavaScript file isn't a library that's going to be required by a lot of other code. You can just include the path to the file you're requiring directly in your call to RequireJs:

<script type="text/javascript">
    require(['My_Module/js/myscript'], function($) {
        // optional loaded callback here
    });
</script>