JS-CLOS

A CLOS-like object system in JavaScript.

• Multiple inheritance
• Multimethod
• Type checking on construction
• ML (or Haskell) style datatype

Examples use cases are shown in:

• example in coffeescript
• ML style datatype example
• Introduction in Japanese

Usage

Simple Data Class

//class, when `make`d, retruns a hash of values
var book = define_class([], function (x) {
    return slot_exists(x, 'title', "string")
        && slot_exists(x, 'author', "string");
});

//generic function show
var show = define_generic();

//show an instance of book
define_method(show, [book], function (b) {
    return b.title + " by " + b.author;
});

var p_city = make(book, {title:'Permutation City', author:'Greg Egan'});

show(p_city);

Multimethod

//define a bunch of classes
//the name is optional
var floor  = define_class([], undefined, "floor");
var carpet = define_class([], undefined, "carpet");
var ball   = define_class([], undefined, "ball");
var glass  = define_class([], undefined, "glass");
var stick  = define_class([], undefined, "stick");

//function to display the result
var bumpOutput = function(x, y, result){
    console.log(x + ' + ' + y + ' bump = ' + result);
};

//define a generic function `bump`
var bump = define_generic();

//define methods
define_method(bump, [ball, floor], function(x, y){
    bumpOutput(x, y, 'bounce');
});
define_method(bump, [glass, floor], function(x, y){
    bumpOutput(x, y, 'crash');
});
define_method(bump, [stick, floor], function(x, y){
    bumpOutput(x, y, 'knock');
});

//if you prefer, the following works, too
bump.defMethod([undefined, carpet], function(x, y){
    bumpOutput(x, y, 'silence');
});

//call the methods
bump(new ball, new floor); //should bounce
bump(new glass, new floor); //should crash
bump(new stick, new carpet); //shold silince

bump(new floor, new stick); // undefined method

API

define_class

Takes:

• an arrey of classes to inherit from. (required)
• a validator function called upon instance construction. (optional)
• a name string which is used as the string representation of its instances (optional)

Returns a constructor function (called class) that can be newed or get applied to make

Syntax

define_class([ parent classes ], function (x) { protocol }, name);

Example

var x = define_class([]);
var y = define_class([x]);
var z = define_class([x, y], funciton (a) {
  return slot_exists(a, 'name', 'string');
});

define_generic

Takes nothing.

Returns a generic function.

Syntax

define_generic();

Example

var show = define_generic();

define_method

Takes:

• a generic function (required)
• an array of patterns that specifies the type of arguments given to the method (required)
• a function that is the body of the method (required)

A pattern is either

• a class (compared with instanceof)
• a value (compared with ===)
• a constructor (that is defined with define_constructor)
• a string returned by typeof operator ("number", "function", etc)
• undefined for wildcard

Returns void.

Syntax

define_method( generic function , [ patternA , ... ], function ( a , ... ) { body });

Example

define_method(show, [z], function (a) {
  console.log(a.name);
});

define_method(show, [x], function (a) {
  console.log("an instance of x");
});

define_constructor

define_constructor allows a class to have multiple constructors.

Takes:

• a class (required)
• an initialization function (optional)

Returns a constructor function.

Syntax

define_constructor( class , function (...) { return make(class, {...}); });

Example

var rank = define_class();
var Ace = define_constructor(rank);
var Jack = define_constructor(rank);
var Queen = define_constructor(rank);
var King = define_constructor(rank);
var Num = define_constructor(rank, function (n) { return make(rank, {number: n});  });

isA(Jack(), rank); //true

make

Takes:

• a class (required)
• a hash object specifying the initial values of each slot (optional)

Returns an instance of the class.

Syntax

make( class, { slot_name: initial_value, ...});

Example

make(x);
make(z, {name: "foo"});
make(z); //ERROR

Note

The hash object given as the second argument is matched with the function given as the second argument to define_class. If the result is false, an exception gets thrown.

is_a

Takes:

• an instance (required)
• a class or a string (required)

Returns boolean

slot_exists

Takes:

• an instance (required)
• a slot identifier (required)
• a class or a string to specify the type (optional)

Returns a boolean. True if the instance has the slot of the specified type. False otherwise.

defClass, defGeneric, defMethod, isA

Aliaces.