OO with comb and Node.js

So, I decided last night that I want to blog. The more I thought about I realized there have been a lot of things I should have written about but didn't; so here is to writing about things I should.

Comb

[github] https://github.com/Pollenware/comb

[docs] http://pollenware.github.com/comb

A little about comb...

Comb is a library that I have been working on for almost a year now and has recently seen some attention on DailyJs but other than that has stayed quiet. I have been racking my brain wondering why more people do not use it, and I think I know why...there is a lot of stuff in it and it  can be daunting to find the gems in it. So my next couple of posts will be dedicated to going through some of the coolest features of comb and what makes it  different.


comb.define
documentation


Ok ok, I know what your thinking "oh man not another class system that tries to simulate OO, and hide the beauty of prototypal inheritance". Well...yes and no. I feel that one thing that is important in good software design is clearly and concisely organizing code into reusable blocks(e.g. classes). However, I do not like the java principle of single inheritance,  the reason I do not care for single inheritance is that I often want to write a class that contains a set of features that can be exposed on other classes just by "mixing it in", so one of the first things I did when designing comb.define was to account for multiple inheritance as well as addressing other issues that arrise with following OO patterns in javascript.

Instance Methods 


When defining classes in  comb there are two root level properties you can define,  instance and  static. The optional instance object is used to define properties and methods on an instance of a class. The optional static property is used to define class level methods and properties than can be used without an instance of a class.

comb.define(null, {
    instance : {//Define your instance methods and properties}
    static : {//Define your static methods and properties}
});

Lets start of by defining the class Mammal that will be used as the parent for other classes.

var Mammal = comb.define(null, {
    instance : {

        _type : "mammal",
        _sound : " *** ",

        constructor: function(options) {
            options = options || {};
            this._super(arguments);
            var type = options.type, sound = options.mammal;
            type && (this._type =  type);
            sound && (this._sound = sound);
        },

        speak : function() {
            return "A mammal of type " + this._type;
        }
    }
});

Next lets define two implementing classes, Wolf and Dog. This example is a little contrived as Dog could inherit from Wolf. 

var Wolf = comb.define(Mammal, {
    instance: {

        _type : "wolf",

        _sound : "howl",

        speak : function() {
            return this._super(arguments) + " that " + this._sound + "s";
        },

        howl : function(){
            console.log("Hoooooooooooowl!")
        }
    }
});

var Dog = comb.define(Mammal, {
    instance: {

        _type : "dog",

        _sound : "bark",

        speak : function() {
            return this._super(arguments) + ", thats domesticated";
        },

        woof : function(){
            console.log("Wooooooof!")
        }
    }
});
 

Ok, so... Wolf and Dog inherit from Mammal, which means that they are both an instanceof Mammal. Notice that both Wolf and Dog override the Mammal default values type and sound with their own values. 

speak : function() {
     return this._super(arguments) + " that " + this._sound + "s";
}

Wolf and Dog also override the speak method, in order to invoke the parents implementation the method _super is invoked. _super traverses the inheritance chain and returns the value.  So for both Dog and Wolf they called _super and appended their own message to their parents message.

//1. Create a dog and make him speak
var myDog = new Dog();
myDog.woof() //prints Wooooooof!
myDog.speak();
    //=> A mammal of type dog, thats domesticated

//2. Create a wolf and make him speak
var myWolf = new Wolf();
myWolf.howl() //prints "Hoooooooooooowl!"
myWolf.speak();
    //=> A mammal of type wolf that howls


//3. Create a DogWolf that inherits from Dog, and mixes in Wolf
var DogWolf = comb.define([Dog, Wolf]);
var myDogWolf = new DogWolf();
myDogWolf.woof() //prints Wooooooof!
myDogWolf.howl() //prints "Hoooooooooooowl!"
myDogWolf.speak();
    //=> A mammal of type wolf, thats domesticated that howls

//4. Create a WolfDog that inherits from Wolf, and mixes in Dog
var WolfDog = comb.define([Wolf, Dog]);
var myWolfDog = new WolfDog();
myWolfDog.woof() //prints Wooooooof!
myWolfDog.howl() //prints "Hoooooooooooowl!"
myWolfDog.speak();
    //=> A mammal of type dog that barks, thats domesticated

What?!?!?!


1 and 2 : We created instances of Dog and Wolf and made them speak. Notice that the return value of the speak() method is the return value of Mammal's speak method concatenated  with the implementing classes own message.


3 and 4. Ok, this is where it gets interesting, so lets break it down line by line.

var DogWolf = comb.define([Dog, Wolf]);

This line defines a new class aptly named DogWolf. The DogWolf class is an instanceof Dog but mixes in Wolf. What does that mean?
 

var myDogWolf = new DogWolf();
myDogWolf instanceof Dog //=> true
myWolfDog instanceof Wolf //=> false

So Wolf is mixed so we can get the howl method. 

myDogWolf.speak();
    //=> A mammal of type wolf, thats domesticated that howls

So when myDogWolf speaks it invokes the speak functionality of Wolf->Dog->Mammal. The order of inheritance is important to keep in mind when designing your classes the inheritance chain will happen in reverse, starting with the last mixin traversing the inheritance chain until either _super is not invoked or the parent of the super class is reached, in this case Mammal. 


So lets add some public properties to Wolf and Dog.

var Wolf = comb.define(Mammal, {
    instance:{

        _type:"wolf",

        _sound:"howl",

        __color:"grey",

        speak:function () {
            return this._super(arguments) + " that " + this._sound + "s";
        },

        howl:function () {
            console.log("Hoooooooooooowl!")
        },

        setters:{
            color:function (color) {
                if (comb.isString(color)) {
                    this.__color = color;
                    if (color === "white") {
                        this._sound = "LOUD howl";
                    }
                }else{
                    throw new TypeError("Color must be a String");
                }
            }
        },

        getters:{
            color:function () {
                return this.__color;
            }
        }
    }
});

var Dog = comb.define(Mammal, {
    instance:{

        _type:"dog",

        _sound:"bark",

        __breed:null,

        constructor : function(opts){
           opts = opts || {};
           !comb.isUndefinedOrNull(opts.breed) 
                   && (this.breed = opts.breed);
           this._super(arguments);
        },

        speak:function () {
            return this._super(arguments) + ", thats domesticated";
        },

        woof:function () {
            console.log("Wooooooof!")
        },

        setters:{
            breed:function (breed) {
                if (comb.isString(breed)) {
                    this.__breed = breed;
                } else {
                    throw new TypeError("Breed must be a String");
                }
            }
        },

        getters:{
            breed:function () {
                return this.__breed;
            },

            foundOldManInWell:function () {
                return "collie" === this.__breed;
            }
        }
    }
});

So we added a setter and getter for  color to the  Wolf class. The advantage of adding setters and getters is that it allows you to add logic when setting/getting properties. When setting the color property on Wolf we check that it is a string and we change our sound depending on the color of the Wolf. If you supply a getter for a property and not a corresponding setter it will be read only(e.g. the Dogs foundOldManInWell property is read only), the same applies for supplying only a setter. Lets try the getters and setters out.

var myDog = new Dog({breed : "beagle"});
console.log(myDog.breed); //prints beagle
console.log(myDog.foundOldManInWell); //prints false

myDog.breed = "collie";
console.log(myDog.breed); //prints collie
console.log(myDog.foundOldManInWell); //prints true
try {
    myDog.breed = false;
} catch (e) {
    console.error(e); //prints [TypeError: Breed must be a String]
}
try {
    new Dog({breed : false});
} catch (e) {
    console.error(e); //prints [TypeError: Breed must be a String]
}

So now that we have defined some instance methods lets get our static on.


Static Methods


As stated above  comb.define looks for an optional static  property on the prototype declaration  of a class. 


Lets modify Mammal to include static properties.

var Mammal = comb.define(null, {
    instance:{

        _type:"mammal",
        _sound:" *** ",

        constructor:function (options) {
            options = options || {};
            this._super(arguments);
            var myClass = this._static;
            this._type = options.type || myClass.DEFAULT_TYPE;
            this._sound = options.sound || myClass.DEFAULT_SOUND;
        },

        speak:function () {
            return "A mammal of type " + this._type;
        },

        getter : {
             type : function(){
                  return this._type;
             }
        }
    },

    static : {

        DEFAULT_TYPE : "mammal",
        DEFAULT_SOUND : " *** ",

        soundOff : function() {
            return "Im a mammal!!";
        }
    }
});

So we added two static properties to Mammal, DEFAULT_TYPE and DEFAULT_SOUND. These properties can be accessed by instances through the _static property. 

constructor:function (options) {
     options = options || {};
     this._super(arguments);
     var myClass = this._static;
     this._type = options.type || myClass.DEFAULT_TYPE;
     this._type = options.sound || myClass.DEFAULT_SOUND;
}

So we refactored the constructor function to leverage the new static properties when initializing itself. One example of using this initialization method is when you have properties that you want to be able to configure and apply to all instances of a class.

var myMammal = new Mammal();
console.log(myMammal.type); //prints mammal
Mammal.DEFAULT_TYPE = "whale";
myMammal = new Mammal();
console.log(myMammal.type); //prints whale

Inhertance In Static Functions.


One neat thing about defining classes in comb is that you not only get the advantages of inheritance in instance methods but static methods as well. So lets modify Dog and Wolf to take advantage of that.
 

var Wolf = comb.define(Mammal, {
    instance:{

        _type:"wolf",

        _sound:"howl",

        __color:"grey",

        speak:function () {
            return this._super(arguments) + " that " + this._sound + "s";
        },

        howl:function () {
            console.log("Hoooooooooooowl!")
        },

        setters:{
            color:function (color) {
                if (comb.isString(color)) {
                    this.__color = color;
                    if (color === "white") {
                        this._sound = "LOUD howl";
                    }
                } else {
                    throw new TypeError("Color must be a String");
                }
            }
        },

        getters:{
            color:function () {
                return this.__color;
            }
        }
    },

    static:{

        soundOff:function () {
            return comb.string.format("%s, %s", this._super(arguments), "I'm a Wolf");
        }

    }
});

var Dog = comb.define(Mammal, {
    instance:{

        _type:"dog",

        _sound:"bark",

        __breed:null,

        constructor:function (opts) {
            opts = opts || {};
            !comb.isUndefinedOrNull(opts.breed) && (this.breed = opts.breed);
            this._super(arguments);
        },

        speak:function () {
            return this._super(arguments) + ", thats domesticated";
        },

        woof:function () {
            console.log("Wooooooof!")
        },

        setters:{
            breed:function (breed) {
                if (comb.isString(breed)) {
                    this.__breed = breed;
                } else {
                    throw new TypeError("Breed must be a String");
                }
            }
        },

        getters:{
            breed:function () {
                return this.__breed;
            },

            foundOldManInWell:function () {
                return "collie" === this.__breed;
            }
        }
    },

    static:{

        soundOff:function () {
            return comb.string.format("%s, %s", this._super(arguments), "I'm a Dog");
        }

    }
});

When executing soundOff.

console.log(Mammal.soundOff());
console.log(Wolf.soundOff());
console.log(Dog.soundOff());
console.log(DogWolf.soundOff());
console.log(WolfDog.soundOff());

As you can see inheritance within the static methods follows the same order as it does within  the instance methods.


Static Getters and Setters


Getters and setters are declared the same way in a static declaration as they are in an instance declaration.


Getting an Instance of my self.


One nuance about prototypal inheritance is that the scope in which a function is called is not consistent. For example, lets add a reproduce method to Mammal.

var Mammal = comb.define(null, {
    instance:{

        _type:"mammal",
        _sound:" *** ",

        constructor:function (options) {
            options = options || {};
            this._super(arguments);
            var myClass = this._static;
            this._type = options.type || myClass.DEFAULT_TYPE;
            this._sound = options.sound || myClass.DEFAULT_SOUND;
        },

        speak:function () {
            return "A mammal of type " + this._type;
        },
        
        reproduce : function(){
           return new Mammal(); 
        },

        getters:{
            type:function () {
                return this._type;
            }
        }
    },

    static:{

        DEFAULT_TYPE:"mammal",
        DEFAULT_SOUND:" *** ",

        soundOff:function () {
            return comb.string.format("Im a %s!!", this.DEFAULT_TYPE);
        }
    }
});

This is great except that it will only work for instances of Mammal if we created a Dog and asked it to reproduce it would return a Mammal and not a Dog. Solution, change reproduce to:

reproduce : function(){
     return new this._static();
}

This guarantees that you create an instance of your type. The same applies if you want to check if something is an instance of your current type. For example lets add a sameSpecies method to Mammal.

sameSpecies : function(obj){
     return obj instanceof this._static; 
}

This comes in handy when dealing with multiple inheritance, and wanting to check if an object is of the same concrete class.


Next time...


In the next post Im going to go into detail about Promises in comb, some useful patterns to clean up the callback madness and a neat little method called comb.executeInOrder which allows you to write async code as if it were synchronous.