mutrait

(formerly mixwith.js)

A simple and powerful trait library for ES6+.

mutrait uses a subclass factory strategy to introduce traits into classes (also known as "mixins"), along with some nice syntax sugar. It allows classes to override methods coming from not only superclasses, but also traits, and it allows traits to override methods from supertraits.

DEPRECATION NOTE: Since the time this package was created, SciSpike has been acquired by Northscaler. There will be no further development on this module. Instead, development will continue at @northscaler/mutrait. You can see all of Northscaler's public Node.js modules at https://www.npmjs.com/search?q=%40northscaler.

Hello, World!

const { Trait, trait } = require('mutrait')      // 0

const CanSayHello = Trait(s => class extends s { // 1
  sayHello () {
    return 'Hello, world!'
  }
})

class Person extends trait(CanSayHello) {}       // 2

const person = new Person()

console.log(person.sayHello())                   // 3
// logs 'Hello, world'

0: Uses Trait & trait from mutrait

1: Defines a new trait that imparts a sayHello method.

2: Defines a class that expresses the CanSayHello trait and doesn't extend anything.

3: Invokes the sayHello method provided by the CanSayHello trait.

class Klingon extends Person {
  sayHello() {
    return 'nuqneH!'                             // 4
  }
}
console.log(new Klingon().sayHello())
// logs 'nuqneH!'

4: Demonstrates that classes can override methods provided by traits.

Expressing Multiple Traits

const { Trait, traits } = require('mutrait')               // 0

const CanSayHello = Trait(s => class extends s {           // 1
  sayHello () {
    return 'Hello, world!'
  }
})

const CanSayGoodbye = Trait(s => class extends s {         // 2
  sayGoodbye () {
    return 'Goodbye, world!'
  }
})

class Person extends traits(CanSayHello, CanSayGoodbye) {} // 3

const person = new Person()

console.log(person.sayHello())                             // 4
// logs 'Hello, world'
console.log(person.sayGoodbye())                           // 5
// logs 'Goodbye, world'

0: Uses Trait & traits from mutrait

1: Defines a trait that imparts a sayHello method

2: Defines a trait that imparts a sayGoodbye method

3: Defines a class that expresses the CanSayHello & CanSayGoodbye traits and doesn't extend anything.

4: Invokes the sayHello method provided by CanSayHello.

5: Invokes the sayGoodbye method provided by CanSayGoodbye.

More Realistic Example

const { Trait, trait } = require('mutrait')

const Nameable = Trait(s => class extends s {
  constructor () {
    super(...arguments)
    this._firstName = ''
    this._lastName = ''
  }

  get fullName () {
    return `${this._firstName} ${this._lastName}`
  }

  set firstName (it) {
    this._firstName = this.checkFirstName(it)
  }

  get firstName () {
    return this._firstName
  }

  checkFirstName (it) {
    return it
  }

  set lastName (it) {
    this._lastName = this.checkLastName(it)
  }

  get lastName () {
    return this._lastName
  }

  checkLastName (it) {
    return it
  }
})

class Person extends trait(Nameable) {
  checkFirstName (it) {
    if (!it) throw new Error('nothing given')
    return it
  }

  checkLastName (it) {
    if (!it) throw new Error('nothing given')
    return it
  }
}

const first = 'Cheeky'
const last = 'Monkey'
const me = new Person()
me.firstName = first
me.lastName = last
assert.equal(first, me._firstName)
assert.equal(last, me._lastName)
assert.equal(first, me.firstName)
assert.equal(last, me.lastName)
assert.equal(`${first} ${last}`, me.fullName)

assert.throws(() => {
  me.firstName = null
})
assert.throws(() => {
  me.lastName = null
})

Features

• super Just Works™.
• instanceof Just Works™ with classes and traits.
• Traits can have constructors and instance methods & fields that are accessible to any class or trait involved.

Syntax Sugar

mutrait provides helpers Trait, superclass, traits, trait & expressing that ease in readability in various cases:

• Use Trait to define a trait:

const MyTrait = Trait(s => class extends s {})

• Use trait when your class declares no superclass and expresses a single trait:

class Thing extends trait(MyTrait) {}

• Use traits when your class declares no superclass and expresses a multiple traits:

class Thing extends traits(MyTrait, MyOtherTrait) {}

NOTE: traits & trait are the same function. They're provided simply for readability's sake. Use whichever reads better for you.

• Use superclass().expressing() when your class declares a superclass and expresses one or more traits:

class Thing extends superclass(MySuper).expressing(MyTrait, MyOtherTrait) {}

Advantages of subclass factory-based traits over typical JavaScript mixins

Subclass factory style mixins preserve the object-oriented inheritance properties that classes provide, like method overriding and super calls, while letting you compose classes out of traits without being constrained to a single inheritance hierarchy, and without monkey-patching or copying.

Method overriding that just works

Methods in subclasses can naturally override methods in the trait or superclass, and traits can override methods in the superclass or supertraits. This means that precedence is preserved - the order is: subclass -> trait__1 -> ... -> trait__N -> superclass.

super works

Subclasses and traits can use super normally, as defined in standard Javascript, and without needing the trait library to do special chaining of functions.

Traits can have constructors

Since super() works, traits can define constructors. Combined with ES6 rest arguments and the spread operator, traits can have generic constructors that work with any superconstructor by passing along all arguments.

Prototypes and instances are not mutated

Typical JavaScript mixins usually either mutate each instance as created, which can be bad for performance and maintainability, or modify a prototype, which means every object inheriting from that prototype gets the mixin. Subclass factories don't mutate objects, they define new classes, leaving the original superclass intact.

Usage

Defining Traits

The Trait decorator function wraps a plain subclass factory to add deduplication, caching and instanceof support:

const { Trait } = require('mutrait')

const MyTrait = Trait(s => class extends s {

  constructor() {
    super(...argsuments)
    // any further initialization here
  }

  foo() {
    console.log('foo from MyTrait')
    // this will call superclass.foo() if it exists
    super.foo()
  }
})

Traits defined with the mutrait decorators do not require any helpers to use. They still work like plain subclass factories.

Using Traits

Classes use traits in their extends clause. Classes that use traits can define and override constructors, methods & fields as usual.

class MyClass extends superclass(MySuperClass).expressing(MyTrait) {

  constructor(a, b) {
    super(a, b); // calls MyTrait(a, b)
  }

  foo() {
    console.log('foo from MyClass');
    super.foo(); // calls MyTrait.foo()
  }
}

Subtraits

There may be time when you have a trait that requires other traits; this can be considering a subtrait. This is achieved by having a trait subclass a given class that expresses all required supertraits. The pattern for that follows.

const Supertrait1 = Trait(s => class extends s {                    // 1
  foo () { return 'foo from Supertrait1' }
  bar () { return 'bar from Supertrait1' }
  snafu () { return 'snafu from Supertrait1' }
})

const Supertrait2 = Trait(s => class extends s {                    // 2
  foo () { return 'foo from Supertrait2' }
  bar () { return 'bar from Supertrait2' }
  snafu () { return 'snafu from Supertrait2' }
})

const Subtrait = Trait(s =>
  class extends superclass(s).expressing(Supertrait1, Supertrait2) { // 3
    bar () { return 'bar from Subtrait' }
    snafu () { return 'snafu from Subtrait' }
  })

class C extends trait(Subtrait) {                                    // 4
  snafu () { return 'snafu from C' }
}

const c = new C()
assert.equal(c.foo(), 'foo from Supertrait2')                        // 5
assert.equal(c.bar(), 'bar from Subtrait')
assert.equal(c.snafu(), 'snafu from C')
assert.isTrue(c instanceof Subtrait)
assert.isTrue(c instanceof Supertrait2)
assert.isTrue(c instanceof Supertrait1)

1: Some conventional trait.

2: Another conventional trait.

3: Pattern that illustrates a subtrait that requires the two supertraits. The order of overriding is "last one wins". In this case, C overrides Subtrait overrides Subtrait2 overrides Subtrait1.

Credits

Credit is most certainly due to mixwith.js for wrapping such a nice bow around mixins. It appeared to be an unmaintained project, so we copied it & created this one.

mutraitis largely just a renaming from "mixin" to "trait", with some minor adjustments & bugfixes here & there, plus it's managed under a minor-release-per-branch strategy.