JavaScript private methods

Question

To make a JavaScript class with a public method I\'d do something like:

function Restaurant() {}

Restaurant.prototype.buy_food = function(){
   // something         


        

Answer 1

I think such questions come up again and again because of the lack of understanding of the closures. Сlosures is most important thing in JS. Every JS programmer have to feel the essence of it.

1. First of all we need to make separate scope (closure).

function () {

}

2. In this area, we can do whatever we want. And no one will know about it.

function () {
    var name,
        secretSkills = {
            pizza: function () { return new Pizza() },
            sushi: function () { return new Sushi() }
        }

    function Restaurant(_name) {
        name = _name
    }
    Restaurant.prototype.getFood = function (name) {
        return name in secretSkills ? secretSkills[name]() : null
    }
}

3. For the world to know about our restaurant class, we have to return it from the closure.

var Restaurant = (function () {
    // Restaurant definition
    return Restaurant
})()

4. At the end, we have:

var Restaurant = (function () {
    var name,
        secretSkills = {
            pizza: function () { return new Pizza() },
            sushi: function () { return new Sushi() }
        }

    function Restaurant(_name) {
        name = _name
    }
    Restaurant.prototype.getFood = function (name) {
        return name in secretSkills ? secretSkills[name]() : null
    }
    return Restaurant
})()

5. Also, this approach has potential for inheritance and templating

// Abstract class
function AbstractRestaurant(skills) {
    var name
    function Restaurant(_name) {
        name = _name
    }
    Restaurant.prototype.getFood = function (name) {
        return skills && name in skills ? skills[name]() : null
    }
    return Restaurant
}

// Concrete classes
SushiRestaurant = AbstractRestaurant({ 
    sushi: function() { return new Sushi() } 
})

PizzaRestaurant = AbstractRestaurant({ 
    pizza: function() { return new Pizza() } 
})

var r1 = new SushiRestaurant('Yo! Sushi'),
    r2 = new PizzaRestaurant('Dominos Pizza')

r1.getFood('sushi')
r2.getFood('pizza')

I hope this helps someone better understand this subject