protolib

protolib is a Javascript library for doing Object Oriented programming using the prototype system. It is based on the article Javascript OO Without Constructors by Toby Ho.

Install

NPM

To install protolib into a Node.js project, input the following command in the root directory of your project.

npm install protolib --save

Bower

To install protolib into a client-side project using Bower, input the following command in the root directory of your project.

bower install protolib --save

Use

protolib provides several functions to help with Object Orientation.

clone(object)

This method returns an object with all the properties of the parameter object.

NOTE: This method will create copies of not only the input object but also every object and array in its prototype chain. It can even handle circular dependencies.

Example

var protolib = require('protolib');
var object = {
    name: 'Philip'
  , hello: function() {
      console.log('Hello, my name is ' + this.name);
    }
  , foo: {
      bar: {
        baz: [ 'test' ]
      }
    }
};

var object_clone = protolib.clone(object);
object_clone.foo.bar.baz[1] = object;
object_clone.foo.bar.baz[1].hello(); // outputs 'Hello, my name is Philip'

inherit(proto)

This method returns an object that inherits from (i.e its prototype is set to) proto

Example

var protolib = require('protolib');
var proto = {foo: 'bar'};
var object = protolib.inherit(proto);
console.log(object.foo); // prints 'bar'

mixin(object, prototype)

This method copies all the properties of proto to object.

NOTE: This method will overwrite any properties of object that bear the same name as a property of proto

Example

var protolib = require('protolib');
var proto = {type: 'list', values: [1, 2, 3]};
var object = {readonly: true};
protolib.mixin(object, proto);
console.log(JSON.stringify(object, null, 2));

Output:

{
  readonly: true,
  type: "list",
  values: [1, 2, 3]
}

Test

To run the unit tests, input the following command in the project's root directory.

npm test