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Completion of main inheritance section for manual

- Not yet proofread
- Still requires subsections
closure/master
Mike Gerwitz 2011-03-20 18:12:37 -04:00
parent 2823e996a1
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@ -308,7 +308,82 @@ where we have a dog, lazy dog, and a dog that walks on two legs:
In the above example, we would say that @var{LazyDog} and @var{TwoLeggedDog}
are @emph{subtypes} of @var{Dog}, and that @var{Dog} is the @emph{supertype}
of the other two.
of the other two. We describe inheritance as an ``is a'' relationship. That is:
@itemize
@item
@var{LazyDog} is a @var{Dog}.
@item
@var{TwoLeggedDog} is also a @var{Dog}.
@item
@var{Dog} is @emph{not} a @var{LazyDog} or a @var{TwoLeggedDog}.
@end itemize
Subtypes @dfn{inherit} all public and protected members of their supertypes
(@pxref{Member Visibility}). This means that, in the case of our above example,
the @code{walk()} method would be available to our subtypes. If the subtype also
defines a method of the same name, as was done above, it will @dfn{override} the
parent functionality. For now, we will limit our discussion to public members.
How would we represent this class using ease.js?
@float Figure, f:inheritance
@verbatim
// our parent class (supertype)
var Dog = Class( 'Dog',
{
'public walk': function()
{
// walk the dog
}
} );
// subclass (child), as a named class
var LazyDog = Class( 'LazyDog' ).extend( Dog,
{
'public walk': function()
{
// lazy dog doesn't want to walk
}
} );
// subclass (child), as an anonymous class
var TwoLeggedDog = Dog.extend(
{
'public walk': function()
{
// two-legged dog only walks on two feet, like a biped
}
} );
@end verbatim
@caption{Inheritance in ease.js}
@end float
You should already understand how to define a class (@pxref{Declaring Classes}).
The above example introduced two means of @dfn{extending} classes, of defining a
new class that inherits from a parent:
@table @strong
@item Named Subclasses
@var{LazyDog} is defined as a @emph{named} subclass
(@pxref{Anonymous vs. Named Classes}). This syntax requires the use of
@samp{Class( 'Name' )}. The @code{extend()} method then allows you to extend
from an existing class by passing the class reference in as the first argument.
@item Anonymous Subclasses
@var{TwoLeggedDog} was declared as an @emph{anonymous} subclass. The syntax for
this declaration is a bit more concise, but you forfeit the benefits of named
classes (@pxref{Anonymous vs. Named Classes}). In this case, you can simply call
the supertype's @code{extend()} method. Alternatively, you can use the
@samp{Class.extend( Base, @{@} )} syntax, as was used with the named subclass
@var{LazyDog}.
@end table
You are @emph{always} recommended to use the named syntax when declaring classes
in order to provide more useful error messages. If you are willing to deal with
the less helpful error messages, feel free to use anonymous classes for their
conciseness.
@node Member Visibility