Comments on: My JavaScript Code Organization Journey (So Far)

By: stusmith

stusmith — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:47:11 +0000

@Thomas – my thinking behind the second version was that I should “pollute” the global namespace as little as possible – in this case, by having a single object, and putting all my stuff into that. (Hopefully one symbol is less likely to clash than hundreds).

As I know you’ve realized, my JS skills are incomplete at the moment – this isn’t a “howto” article – it’s just a diary of my first few steps.

@Craig – agreed, and I think the templates feature of C++ is similar in some respects… it took people a while to work out you can use them for meta-programming. “Modern C++ Design” (http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Design-Programming-Patterns-Depth/dp/0201704315) really opened my eyes to how much C++ I had yet to learn.

By: Thomas Christensen

Thomas Christensen — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:38:53 +0000

Nice progress.

I don’t think for MyNameSpace is better in the second version, though. It’s cleverer which equals less readable.

It’s very tempting to make the code more compact with new tricks, esp. with tertiary operators etc., but it’s seldom desirable to do so. Maybe somebody needs to maintain the code someday. Shorter && compact != better.

(This is by no means a bad example, I’ve seen – and written – far worse).

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:04:02 +0000

I used JavaScript for almost 10 years before I realised what it could *really* do! Bizarrely, new techniques and concepts are discovered all the time … it’s quite strange for a language that’s been around so long.

Classes and prototypes will be easier than you expect. There’s no ‘class’ definition, you just write a function and create object instances with ‘new’. Prototype adds further properties and methods to the base function. You can even add them after objects have been created.

What’s also great is that everything in JavaScript is an object – even native types. You can add or adapt functionality, e.g. to add a String Trim method: String.prototype.Trim = function() { return this.replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g, ""); };

You can now write code such as: var x = " test "; x = x.Trim();

However, be wary about doing that if you’re integrating other people’s code. Adding further methods can effect iterations (properties such as array lengths get affected).

Overall, it’s very powerful and I think you’ll love it, but prototypal inheritance requires your brain to be rewired in a different way to classical OOP languages.

By: stusmith

stusmith — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:01:39 +0000

Cheers Craig, I like that idea of starting with everything private, then “exposing” particular functions.

Classes (and maybe even inheritance) are next on my list of things to look at – but as I still mostly code in C#, my JavaScript learning is taking longer than it might. (It’s not because I’m a dolt, honest).

I’d consider using JS server-side… but the seamless integration between C# and databases using LINQ would be tough to give up.

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 09:08:10 +0000

Doh – looks like my code got a bit mangled. Also, I missed the “();” from the end of the outer function block. Opps.

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 08:48:36 +0000

The module pattern is incredibly useful and means your code needs just one global variable for the whole of your application.

Incidentally, I prefer to define all the properties and methods within the body of the function, then return the public ones as an object literal, e.g.

var x = function() {


    var privateProperty = 0;
    function privateMethod() {...}
    function publicMethod1() {...}
    function publicMethod2() {...}

return { publicMethod1: publicMethod1, publicMethod2: publicMethod2, alternativeNameForMethod2: publicMethod2 } }

This makes it easier to see which methods are public, change them to private, rename them, or provide alternative names.

I’d also recommend you look into ‘prototype’ if you have not done so already.

JavaScript is a seriously misunderstood and under-appreciated language. It’s only in the past couple of years that developers have started to realise it’s power. I really miss some of the features when I code in other languages – bring on JS on the server!