Javascript functional inheritance with prototypes

Question

In Douglas Crockford\'s JavaScript: The Good Parts he recommends that we use functional inheritance. Here\'s an example:

var mammal = function(spec, my         


        

Answer 1

To proper use Javascript-prototype based inheritance you could use fastClass https://github.com/dotnetwise/Javascript-FastClass

You have the simpler inheritWith flavor:

  var Mammal = function (spec) {
    this.spec = spec;
}.define({
    clearThroat: function () { return "Ahem" },
    getName: function () {
        return this.spec.name;
    },
    says: function () {
        return this.clearThroat() + ' ' + spec.saying || '';
    }
});

var Cat = Mammal.inheritWith(function (base, baseCtor) {
    return {
        constructor: function(spec) { 
            spec = spec || {};
            baseCtor.call(this, spec); 
        },
        purr: function() {
            return this.clearThroat() + " purr";
        },
        getName: function() {
            return this.says() + ' ' + this.spec.name + this.says();
        }
    }
});

var kitty = new Cat({ name: "Fluffy" });
kitty.purr(); // Ahem purr
kitty.getName(); // Ahem Fluffy Ahem

And if you are very concerned about performance then you have the fastClass flavor:

var Mammal = function (spec) {
    this.spec = spec;
}.define({
    clearThroat: function () { return "Ahem" },
    getName: function () {
        return this.spec.name;
    },
    says: function () {
        return this.clearThroat() + ' ' + spec.saying || '';
    }
});

var Cat = Mammal.fastClass(function (base, baseCtor) {
    return function() {
        this.constructor = function(spec) { 
            spec = spec || {};
            baseCtor.call(this, spec); 
        };
        this.purr = function() {
            return this.clearThroat() + " purr";
        },
        this.getName = function() {
            return this.says() + ' ' + this.spec.name + this.says();
        }
    }
});

var kitty = new Cat({ name: "Fluffy" });
kitty.purr(); // Ahem purr
kitty.getName(); // Ahem Fluffy Ahem

Btw, your initial code doesn't make any sense but I have respected it literally.

fastClass utility:

Function.prototype.fastClass = function (creator) {
    var baseClass = this, ctor = (creator || function () { this.constructor = function () { baseClass.apply(this, arguments); } })(this.prototype, this)

    var derrivedProrotype = new ctor();

    if (!derrivedProrotype.hasOwnProperty("constructor"))
        derrivedProrotype.constructor = function () { baseClass.apply(this, arguments); }

    derrivedProrotype.constructor.prototype = derrivedProrotype;
    return derrivedProrotype.constructor;
};

inheritWith utility:

Function.prototype.inheritWith = function (creator, makeConstructorNotEnumerable) {
    var baseCtor = this;
    var creatorResult = creator.call(this, this.prototype, this) || {};
    var Derrived = creatorResult.constructor ||
    function defaultCtor() {
        baseCtor.apply(this, arguments);
    }; 
    var derrivedPrototype;
    function __() { };
    __.prototype = this.prototype;
    Derrived.prototype = derrivedPrototype = new __;

    for (var p in creatorResult)
        derrivedPrototype[p] = creatorResult[p];

    if (makeConstructorNotEnumerable && canDefineNonEnumerableProperty) //this is not default as it carries over some performance overhead
        Object.defineProperty(derrivedPrototype, 'constructor', {
            enumerable: false,
            value: Derrived
        });

    return Derrived;
};

define utility:

Function.prototype.define = function (prototype) {
    var extendeePrototype = this.prototype;
    if (prototype)
        for (var p in prototype)
            extendeePrototype[p] = prototype[p];
    return this;
}

[* Disclaimer, I am the author of the open source package and the names of the methods themselves might be renamed in future` *]