Uberproto

 

Uberproto is a simple base object that adds some sugar to ECMAScript 5 style object inheritance in JavaScript.

Here is what it can do in a nutshell:

- Easily extend objects
- Initialization methods
- Super methods
- Mixins
- Method proxies

With a small footprint (about 0.5Kb minified) and an easy to handle API of just four methods it also doesn't add a lot of baggage to your JavaScript application.

Usage

UberProto can be used as a CommonJS AMD module
(e.g. with RequireJS), NodeJS or directly
in the browser. If no module loader is available, the global variable _Proto_
will be defined after you include the script.

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Make sure proto.js is in the right folder and then just define a module like this:

``javascript
define(['proto'], function(Proto) {
// Source goes here
});
`

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Download proto.min.js, then include the file as a script:

`html

`

Or through a CDN:

`html

`

Now Proto is available as a global vairable.

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After installing the package using NPM

> npm install uberproto

just require it like any other module:

`javascript
var Proto = require('uberproto');
`

Creating objects

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You can extend any UberProto object by using extend to create a new object that inherits from the current one.
Internally Object.create is
being used (the library provides a polyfill for browsers that don't support Object.create)
and the prototype is set to the object that you are extending.
If defined, the init method will be used as the constructor.
That way you can define a simple Person object (which will be reused throughout the next paragraphs):

`javascript
var Person = Proto.extend({
init : function(name) {
this.name = name;
},

fullName : function() {
return this.name;
}
});
`

You can also define a plain object and pass it to UberProto object methods:

`javascript
var PersonObject = {
init : function(name) {
this.name = name;
},

fullName : function() {
return this.name;
}
};
`

Play around with the examples in this JSFiddle.

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You can create a new instance by calling create. This will create a new object and call the init method,
if defined:

`javascript
var dave = Person.create('Dave');
console.log(dave.name); // -> 'Dave'
console.log(dave.fullName()); // -> 'Dave'
`

If you are using init already for something else you can also set the __init property to the method name
of your intialization method:

`javascript
var MyPerson = Proto.extend({
__init : 'construct',

construct : function(name) {
this.name = name;
}
});
`

For calling the constructor on a plain object, call create on an UberProto object:

`javascript
var john = Proto.create.call(PersonObject, 'John');
console.log(john.fullName()); // -> 'John'
`

Overwriting create is great if you want to customize the way new objects are being
instantiated.

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In each method this._super refers to the method being overwritten, if there is one.
For our Person object, for example, it would be a lot better if it also had a last name:

`javascript
var BetterPerson = Person.extend({
init : function(name, lastname) {
// If you want to pass all original arguments to the
// _super method just use apply:
// this._super.apply(this, arguments);
this._super(name);
this.lastname = lastname;
},

fullName : function() {
return this._super() + ' ' + this.lastname;
}
});

var dave = BetterPerson.create('Dave', 'Doe');
console.log(dave.name); // -> 'Dave'
console.log(dave.lastname); // -> 'Doe'
console.log(dave.fullName()); // -> 'Dave Doe'
`

You can also extend a plain object if you don't want to inherit from an UberProto object:

`javascript
var BetterPersonObject = Proto.extend({
init : function(name, lastname) {
this._super(name);
this.lastname = lastname;
},

fullName : function() {
return this._super() + ' ' + this.lastname;
}
}, PersonObject); // Pass the plain object as the second parameter
`

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Mixins add functionality to an existing object. Mixins can also access their super methods using this._super.
This will either refer the overwritten method on the object itself or the one on the prototype:

`javascript
Person.mixin({
init : function()
{
this._super.apply(this, arguments);
this.can_sing = true;
},

sing : function()
{
return 'Laaaa';
}
});

var dude = Person.create('Dude');
console.log(dude.sing()); // -> 'Laaaa'
console.log(dude.can_sing); // -> true
`

Actual instances can be mixed in just the same:

`javascript
var operaSinger = Person.create('Pavarotti');
operaSinger.mixin({
sing : function()
{
return this._super() + ' Laalaaa!';
}
});

console.log(operaSinger.sing()); // -> 'Laaaa Laalaaa!'
`

And you can also mix into plain objects e.g. overwriting the constructor of PersonObject:

`javascript
Proto.mixin({
fullName : function() {
return 'My name is: ' + this._super();
}
}, PersonObject);

// Create a plain object without calling the constructor
var instance = Object.create(PersonObject);
instance.name = 'Dude';
console.log(instance.fullName()); // 'My name is: Dude'
`

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You can create proxy callbacks, that make sure that _this_ will always
point to the right object:

`javascript
var callback = operaSinger.proxy('fullName');
console.log(callback()); // -> 'Pavarotti'
`

And you can partially apply function arguments:

`javascript
operaSinger.mixin({
sing : function(text)
{
return this._super() + ' ' + text;
}
});

var singHello = operaSinger.proxy('sing', 'Helloooooo!');

singHello() // Laaaa Laalaaa! Helloooooo!
`

proxy` only works on objects extended from UberProto.

License

MIT License

Copyright (C) 2018 David Luecke daff@neyeon.com