131 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
131 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
@c This document is part of the GNU ease.js manual.
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@c Copyright (C) 2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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@c Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
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@c under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
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@c any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
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@c Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
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@c A copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free
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@c Documentation License''.
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@node Interoperability
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@chapter Interoperability
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GNU ease.js is not for everyone, so it is important to play nicely with
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vanilla ECMAScript so that prototypes and objects can be integrated with
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the strict restrictions of ease.js (imposed by classical OOP). In general,
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you should not have to worry about this: everything is designed to work
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fairly transparently. This chapter will go over what ease.js intentionally
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supports and some interesting concepts that may even be useful even if you
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have adopted ease.js for your own projects.
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@menu
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* Using GNU ease.js Classes Outside of ease.js::
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* Prototypally Extending Classes::
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@end menu
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@node Using GNU ease.js Classes Outside of ease.js
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@section Using GNU ease.js Classes Outside of ease.js
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GNU ease.js is a prototype generator---it takes the class definition,
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applies its validations and conveniences, and generates a prototype and
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constructor that can be instantiated and used just as any other ECMAScript
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constructor/prototype. One thing to note immediately, as mentioned in
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the section @ref{Defining Classes,,Defining Classes}, is that constructors
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generated by ease.js may be instantiated either with or without the
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@code{new} keyword:
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@float Figure, f:interop-new
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@verbatim
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var Foo = Class( { /*...*/ } );
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// both of these are equivalent
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Foo();
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new Foo();
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@end verbatim
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@caption{Constructors generated by ease.js may omit the @code{new} keyword}
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@end float
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ease.js convention is to omit the keyword for more concise code that is more
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easily chained, but you should follow the coding conventions of the project
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that you are working on.
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@node Prototypally Extending Classes
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@section Prototypally Extending Classes
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Since @ref{Classes,,classes} are also constructors with prototypes, they may
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be used as part of a prototype chain. There are, however, some important
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considerations when using any sort of constructor as part of a prototype
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chain.
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Conventionally, prototypes are subtyped by using a new instance as the
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prototype of the subtype's constructor, as so:
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@float Figure, f:interop-protochain-incorrect
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@verbatim
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var Foo = Class( { /*...*/ } );
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// extending class as a prototype
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function SubFoo() {};
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SubFoo.prototype = Foo(); // INCORRECT
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SubFoo.prototype.constructor = SubFoo;
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@end verbatim
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@caption{Incorrectly prototypally extending GNU ease.js classes}
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@end float
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The problem with this approach is that constructors may perform validations
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on their arguments to ensure that the instance is in a consistent state. GNU
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ease.js solves this problem by introducing an @code{asPrototype} method on
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all classes:
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@float Figure, f:interop-protochain
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@verbatim
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var Foo = Class( { /*...*/ } );
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// extending class as a prototype
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function SubFoo()
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{
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// it is important to call the constructor ourselves; this is a
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// generic method that should work for all subtypes, even if SubFoo
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// implements its own __construct method
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this.constructor.prototype.__construct.apply( this, arguments );
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// OR, if SubFoo does not define its own __construct method, you can
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// alternatively do this:
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this.__construct();
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};
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SubFoo.prototype = Foo.asPrototype(); // Correct
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SubFoo.prototype.constructor = SubFoo;
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@end verbatim
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@caption{Correctly prototypally extending GNU ease.js classes}
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@end float
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The @code{asPrototype} method instantiates the class, but does not execute
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the constructor. This allows it to be used as the prototype without any
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issues, but it is important that the constructor of the subtype invokes the
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constructor of the class, as in @ref{f:interop-protochain}. Otherwise, the
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state of the subtype is undefined.
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Keep in mind the following when using classes as part of the prototype
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chain:
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@itemize
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@item
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GNU ease.js member validations are not enforced; you will not be warned if
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an abstract method remains unimplemented or if you override a non-virtual
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method, for example. Please exercise diligence.
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@item
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It is not wise to override non-@ref{Inheritance,,virtual} methods, because
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the class designer may not have exposed a proper API for accessing and
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manipulating internal state, and may not provide proper protections to
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ensure consistent state after the method call.
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@item
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Note the @ref{Private Member Dilemma} to ensure that your prototype works
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properly in pre-ES5 environments and with potential future ease.js
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optimizations for production environments: you should not define or
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manipulate properties on the prototype that would conflict with private
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members of the subtype. This is an awkward situation, since private
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members are unlikely to be included in API documentation for a class;
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ease.js normally prevents this from happening automatically.
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@end itemize
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