Secrets

Secrets can be used to tie "private" properties to objects in JavaScript. Use Secrets.create to create a secret generator, a function which can be used to attach private properties to an object.

var priv = Secrets.create();

var obj = { };
priv(obj).foo = 'bar';

console.log(priv(obj).foo); // => "bar"

If the secret generator is guarded, the properties cannot be read by scripts which don't have access to the function. Secret generators can be guarded in closures.

var Point = (function() {

    var priv = Secrets.create();

    function Point(x, y) {
        priv(this).x = x;
        priv(this).y = y;
    }

    Point.prototype.getCoords = function() {
        return priv(this).x + ',' + priv(this).y;
    };

    return Point;

})();

var P = new Point(3, 4),
    Q = new Point(-5, 7);

P.getCoords(); // => "3,4"
Q.getCoords(); // => "-5,7"

Using secrets in this way allows class-private variables. This means two instances of the same constructor can access each other's privates (since they share the same secret generator).

var Point = (function() {

    var priv = Secrets.create();

    function Point(x, y) {
        priv(this).x = x;
        priv(this).y = y;
    }

    Point.prototype.getCoords = function() {
        return priv(this).x + ',' + priv(this).y;
    };

    Point.prototype.add = function(p) {
        priv(this).x += priv(p).x;
        priv(this).y += priv(p).y;
    };

    return Point;

})();

var P = new Point(3, 4),
    Q = new Point(-5, 7);

P.add(Q);
P.getCoords(); // => "-2,11"