simile

0.0.5 • Public • Published

Simile

A small library which attempts to push prototypal inheritance to its natural conclusions in JavaScript (for ECMAScript 5).

This library provides a few basic functions which are oriented toward making prototypal inheritence simple and straight-forward.

Motivation

Simile is prototypal at its core. The motivation behind simile is to provide a set of tools that grounds code in a prototypal pattern of thought. Objects are stated to be like other objects, building correlations between objects, and diminishing the role of constructors.

Getting Started

Node

Installation

npm install simile

Then...

var simile = require('simile'),
	like = simile.like,
	forge = simile.forge;

// ...

Browser

Basic

Download simile.js and serve it in a <script> tag.

<script type="text/javascript" src="path/to/simile.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
    var like = simile.like,
    	forge = simile.forge;
</script>

Inside another script, you can use secrets.create() to create a secret coupler (see below).

AMD

It's also possible to import simile as an AMD module.

require([ 'path/to/simile' ], function(simile) {
    var like = simile.like,
    	forge = simile.forge;
    // ...
});

Use

Inheritance (like)

To create an object use like.

var Pizza = like();
// Pizza is an object which has no prototype -- it's not like anything else.

Object.getPrototypeOf(Pizza); // => null

To create an object which inherits from another object, use like again.

var CheesePizza = like(Pizza);
// CheesePizza is like Pizza

An inheritance relationship is built: CheesePizza inherits from Pizza.

The like function accepts a second optional argument, a map of properties to add to the new object.

var PepperoniPizza = like(Pizza, {
	toppings: [ 'pepperoni' ]
});
PepperoniPizza.toppings; // => [ 'pepperoni' ]

var MediumPepperoniPizza = like(PepperoniPizza, {
	diameter: frozen('22cm')
});
MediumPepperoniPizza.diameter; // => '22cm'
MediumPepperoniPizza.toppings; // => [ 'pepperoni' ]

These properties are non-enumerable.

MediumPepperoniPizza.slices = 8;

for(var key in MediumPepperoniPizza) {
	console.log(key);
}
// Only logs 'slices'. The other properties ('diameter', 'toppings') are not logged because
// they are non-enumerable.

These properties are, however, writable and configurable (by default).

MediumPepperoniPizza.diameter = '20cm';
delete MediumPepperoniPizza.toppings;

MediumPepperoniPizza.diameter; // => '20cm'
MediumPepperoniPizza.toppings; // => undefined

Properties inherit a false writable or configurable state.

FrozenPizza = like(PepperoniPizza, Object.freeze({
    thaw: function() { console.log('thawing!'); }
}));

FrozenPizza.thaw = 1;    // Error: `thaw` is non-writable
delete FrozenPizza.thaw; // Error: `thaw` is non-configurable

like is like Object.create, except it has an easier, cleaner syntax with reasonable defaults for the property descriptors.

var John = like(Mike, {
	firstName: 'John'
});
John.getName(); // => 'John Campbell'

Like Object.create, like can be used on null to create an object with no inheritance.

var x = like(null);
'hasOwnProperty' in x; // => false
// x does not inherit from Object (or anything)

forge

forge is like + init. It calls like on the first argument and passes any other arguments to an object's init method (if present).

var Person = like(null, {
	init: function(firstName, lastName) {
        this.firstName = firstName;
        this.lastName = lastName;
	},
	getName: function() {
		return this.firstName + ' ' + this.lastName;
	}
});
var Mike = forge(Person, 'Mike', 'Campbell');
Mike.getName(); // => 'Mike Campbell'

isLike

The isLike function can be used to check inheritance (instanceof will not work because you're not checking against a constructor).

isLike(PepperoniPizza, Pizza);            // => true
isLike(MediumPepperoniPizza, Pizza);      // => true
isLike(PepperoniPizza, Santa);            // => false
isLike(Pizza, PepperoniPizza);            // => false

Note the last example above in particular. Although PepperoniPizza is like Pizza, Pizza is not like PepperoniPizza. This is because PepperoniPizza inherits Pizza's properties, but Pizza doesn't inherit PepperoniPizza's properties.

sealed and frozen

A property can be set to be non-configurable or non-writable using sealed and frozen. The former makes a property non-configurable, while the latter makes a property both non-configurable and non-writable.

var Canine = like(),
    Fox = like(Canine, {
        color: sealed('red'),
        trait: frozen('sneaky')
    });

// `color` is writable
Fox.color = 'gray';
// But it is not configurable
Object.defineProperty(Fox, 'color', { enumerable: true }); // Error
// And `trait` is neither writable nor configurable
Fox.trait = 'lazy'; // Error
Object.defineProperty(Fox, 'trait', { enumerable: true }); // Error

extend

extend can be used to extend the properties of an object.

var Santa = like();
extend(Santa, {
	speak: function() {
		return 'Ho ho ho!';
	}
});
Santa.speak(); // => 'Ho ho ho!'

Properties added with extend are non-enumerable.

mixin

mixin can be used to mix one object into another. It differs from extend in two ways: (1) properties remain enumerable if they are enumerable on the mixin, and (2) inherited properties are mixed in (up to a common parent).

var Santa = like();
mixin(Santa, {
	speak: function() {
		return 'Ho ho ho!';
	}
});

var descriptor = Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(Santa, 'speak');
descriptor.enumerable;   // => true
descriptor.writable;     // => true
descriptor.configurable; // => true

var Holidayer = like(null, {
    shout: function() {
        return 'Merry Christmas!';
    }
});

var Elf = like(Holidayer, {
    makeToys: function() {
        return 'Fa la la!';
    }
});

mixin(Santa, Elf);
Santa.shout();    // => 'Merry Christmas!'
Santa.makeToys(); // => 'Fa la la!'

adapt

adapt will convert a regular JavaScript-style constructor to a simile-style prototype.

var List = adapt(Array);

var toppings = forge(List);
toppings.push('Pepperoni');
toppings.push('Cheese');
toppings.push('Guacomole');

toppings.join(', '); // => 'Pepperoni, Cheese, Guacomole'

Note that this doesn't really work for other built-ins in ES5 due to a lack of @@create. Simile will be modified to support this in ES6, when available, but for ES5 users, avoid using adapt for built-ins for now.

It still works great for user-land constructors!

// Code from some other library...
function Person(name) {
	this.name = name;
}
Person.prototype.sayHi = function() {
	return 'Hello, my name is ' + this.name;
};

// You want to use the simile-style
var SPerson = adapt(Person);

var paul = forge(SPerson, 'Paul');
paul.sayHi(); // => 'Hello, my name is Paul'

toConstructor

toConstructor is the inverse of adapt. It takes a simile-style prototype and converts it to a regular JavaScript-style constructor.

var Person = like(null, {
	init: function(name) {
		this.name = name;
	},
	sayHi: function() {
		return 'Hello, my name is ' + this.name;
	}
});

var CPerson = toConstructor(Person);

var sally = new CPerson('Sally');
sally.sayHi(); // => 'Hello, my name is Sally'

Private Properties

Secrets or WeakMaps can be used alongside simile to associate private state with objects.

var Purse = (function() {

    var $ = createSecret();

    return like(null, {

        init: function(balance) {
            if (Object(this) !== this)
                throw new TypeError('Object expected');
            $(this).balance = balance | 0;
        },

        deposit: function deposit(from, amount) {
            if (!('balance' in $(this)))
                throw new TypeError('Deposit must be called on a Purse.');
            if (!('balance' in $(from))
                throw new TypeError('Another Purse is required to make a deposit.');
            $(from).balance -= amount;
            $(this).balance += amount;
        },

        get balance() {
            return $(this).balance;
        }

    });

})();

var sally = forge(Purse, 100),
    jane = forge(Purse, 250);

sally.deposit(jane, 50);
console.log(
    sally.balance, // => 150
    jane.balance   // => 200
);

Example

var Vehicle = like(null, {
    init: function(name) {
        this.name = name;
    },
	speed: 0,
	acceleration: 10,
	start: function() {
		this.speed = this.acceleration;
		console.log(this.name, 'started', this.speed);
	},
	stop: function() {
		this.speed = 0;
		console.log(this.name, 'stopped', this.speed);
	},
	accelerate: function() {
		this.speed += this.acceleration;
		console.log(this.name, this.speed);
	}
});

// MiniVan inherits all of Vehicle's properties
var MiniVan = like(Vehicle, {
	acceleration: 6
});

// Racecar also inherits all of Vehicle's properties, but it overrides `init`.
var Racecar = like(Vehicle, {
	init: function(name) {
        Vehicle.init.call(this, name);
		this.acceleration = Math.floor(Math.random() * 20 + 40);
	}
});

// peacockVan inherits from MiniVan
var peacockVan = forge(MiniVan, 'peacock');

peacockVan.start();       // => peacock started 6
peacockVan.accelerate();  // => peacock 12
peacockVan.accelerate();  // => peacock 18
peacockVan.stop();        // => peacock stopped 0

// wallaceCar inherits from Racecar
var wallaceCar = forge(Racecar, 'wallace');
// andyCar also inherits from Racecar
var andyCar = forge(Racecar, 'andy');

wallaceCar.start();       // => wallace started [random number]
andyCar.start();          // => andy started [random number]

wallaceCar.accelerate();  // => wallace [random number]
andyCar.accelerate();     // => andy [random number]

wallaceCar.accelerate();  // => wallace [random number]
andyCar.accelerate();     // => andy [random number]

wallaceCar.stop();        // => wallace [random number]
andyCar.stop();           // => andy [random number]

CC0
To the extent possible under law, Nathan Wall has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to Simile.

This work is published from:
<span property="vcard:Country" datatype="dct:ISO3166" content="US">
  United States
</span>.

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0.0.5

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