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			707 lines
		
	
	
		
			19 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			JavaScript
		
	
	
		
			Executable File
		
	
	
	
	
			
		
		
	
	
			707 lines
		
	
	
		
			19 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			JavaScript
		
	
	
		
			Executable File
		
	
	
	
	
/**********************************************************************
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* 
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* The basics of JavaScript OOP
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*
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*
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**********************************************************************/
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/*********************************************************************/
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//
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// The basic prototype inheritance
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// -------------------------------
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//
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// First we'll create a  basic object a
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	var a = {
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		x: 1,
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		y: 2,
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	} 
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// Then we will create a new object using 'a' as a "base" 
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	var b = Object.create(a)
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	b.z = 3
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// The object 'b' now has both access to it's own attributes ('z') and 
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// attributes of 'a' ('x' and 'y')
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	b.x					// -> 1
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	b.z					// -> 3
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// What we see is that if the attribute is not found in the current 
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// object the next object is checked, and so on, this next object is
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// called "prototype". 
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// These prototype chains can be of any length.
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// Cycles in prototype chains are not allowed, see note further down for
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// an example.
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//
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// Note that this works for reading (and mutating) attributes, but when 
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// writing or deleting we are affecting ONLY the local object and 
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// attributes explicitly defined in it, or its' "own" attributes.
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	b.x = 321
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	b.x					// -> 321
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	a.x					// -> 1
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// Notice also that a.x is no longer visible from 'b', this is called 
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// "shadowing", we say: a.x is shadowed by b.x, now let us delete 'x' 
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// from 'b' to reveal the shadowed a.x
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	delete b.x
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	b.x					// -> 1
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// But, trying to delete .x from 'b' again will have no effect, this is 
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// because .x no longer exists in 'b'
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	delete b.x
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	b.x					// -> 1
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// Now back to the mechanism that makes all of this work...
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//
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// First we'll try couple of easy ways to see the local and non-local 
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// sets of attributes:
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	// show local or "own" only attribute names (keys)...
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	Object.keys(b)		// -> z
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	// show all accessible keys...
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	for(var k in b){ console.log(k) }
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						// -> x, y, z
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// Another way to test if the attribute is own/local
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	b.hasOwnProperty('z')	// -> true
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	b.hasOwnProperty('x')	// -> false
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// What happens under the hood is very simple: b references it's 
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// "prototype" via the .__proto__ attribute:
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	b.__proto__ === a	// -> true
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// We can read/set this special attribute just like any other attribute 
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// on most systems.
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//
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// NOTE: we did not see .__proto__ in the list of accessible attributes
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// 		because it is a special attribute (property), it is implemented 
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// 		internally and is not enumerable.
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// NOTE: cyclic prototype chains are actively not allowed, e.g. creating
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// 		a chain like the following will fail:
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// 			var a = {}
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// 			var b = Object.creating(a)
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// 			a.__proto__ = b
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//
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//
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// Thus, we could define our own equivalent to Object.create(..) like
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// this:
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	function clone(from){
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		var o = {}
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		o.__proto__ = from
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		return o
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	}
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	var c = clone(b)
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// Out of curiosity let's see if .__proto__ is defined on a basic object
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	var x = {}
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	x.__proto__			// -> {}
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// Turns out it is, and it points to Object's prototype
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	x.__proto__ === Object.prototype
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						// -> true
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// We will discuss what this means and how we can use this in the next 
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// sections...
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//
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// As a side note, Object.prototype is the "root" most object in 
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// JavaScript and usually is "terminated" with null, i.e.:
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	Object.prototype.__proto__ === null
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// We'll also need this a bit later...
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//
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// And can create an object with a null prototype like this:
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	var raw_obj = Object.create(null)
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	var raw_obj = clone(null)
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	// or manually...
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	var raw_obj = {}
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	raw_obj.__proto__ = null
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// These "raw" objects differ from normal objects in that they do not 
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// inherit any interface methods, defined in the Object, like the 
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// .hasOwnProperty(..) we used above, this can be useful in some cases.
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// The Constructor Mechanism
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// -------------------------
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//
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// JavaScript provides a second, complementary mechanism to inherit 
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// attributes, it resembles the class/object relationship in languages
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// like C++ but this resemblance is on the surface only, as it still 
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// uses the same prototype mechanism as basis, as described above.  
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//
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// We will start by creating a "constructor":
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	function A(){
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		this.x = 1
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		this.y = 2
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	}
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// Technically a constructor is just a function, what makes it a 
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// "constructor" is only how we use it...
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	var a = new A()
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// Some terminology:
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// - in the above use-case 'A' is called a constructor,
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// - the object returned by new is called an "instance" (in this case 
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//   assigned to 'a'),
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// - the attributes set by the constructor (x and y) are called 
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//   "instance attributes" and are not shared (obviously) between 
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//   different instances, rather they are "constructed" for each 
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//   instance independently.
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//
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//
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// Let's look in more detail at what 'new' does here:
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// 	1) creates an empty object
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// 	2) sets a bunch of attributes on it, we'll skim this part for now
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// 	3) passes the new object to the constructor via 'this'
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// 	4) after the constructor finishes, this object is returned
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//
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// We could write a simplified equivalent function:
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	function construct(func){
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		var obj = {}
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		func.apply(obj)
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		return obj
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	}
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	var b = construct(A)
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// But at this point this all looks like all we did is move the attribute
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// definition from a literal object notation into a constructor function,
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// effectively adding complexity. 
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// And now instead of "inheriting" and reusing attributes we make a new
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// set for each individual instance.
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// So hat are we getting back from this?
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//
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// To answer this question we will need to look deeper under the hood,
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// specifically at a couple of special attributes:
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	// we saw this one before...
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	a.__proto__			// -> {} 
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	// this points back to the constructor...
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	a.constructor		// -> [Function A]
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// These are what makes this fun, lets write a more complete 'new' 
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// re-implementation:
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	function construct(func, args){
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		var obj = {}
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		// set some special attributes...
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		obj.__proto__ = func.prototype
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		// call the constructor...
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		var res = func.apply(obj, args)
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		// handle the return value of the constructor...
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		if(res instanceof Object){
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			return res
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		}
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		return obj
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	}
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	var b = construct(A)
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// There are two important things we added here:
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// 1) we now explicitly use the .prototype attribute that we saw earlier
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// 2) we return the resulting object in a more complicated way
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//
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// Each time a function is created in JavaScript it will get a new empty
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// object assigned to it's .prototype attribute.
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// On the function level, this is rarely used, but this object is very 
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// useful when the function is used as a constructor.
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//
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// As we can see from the code above, the resulting object's .__proto__
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// points to the constructor's .prototype, this means not-own the 
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// attributes accessed via that object are resolved to the prototype.
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// In the default case this is true, but in general it's a bit more 
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// flexible, we'll see this in the next section.
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//
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// And the way we handle the return value makes it possible for the 
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// constructor to return a custom object rather than use the one 
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// provided in its "this" by new.
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//
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//
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// So if we add stuff to the constructor's .prototype they should be 
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// accessible from the object
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	// the following three lines actually add attributes to the same 
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	// object...
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	A.prototype.k = 123
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	a.constructor.prototype.l = 321
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	a.__proto__.m = 333
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	// for illustration, we'll set some object own attributes
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	a.k = 'a!'
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	b.k = 'b!'
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	a.k					// -> 'a!'
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	a.l					// -> 321
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	a.m					// -> 333
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// These values are accessible from all objects constructed by A since
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// all of them point to A with both the .constructor and .__proto__ 
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// attributes
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	b.k					// -> 'b!'
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	b.l					// -> 321
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	b.m					// -> 333
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// This works for any constructor, including built-in constructors and
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// since name resolution happens in runtime all instances will get the 
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// new functionality live, as it is defined:
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	// a "class method", like .keys(..) but return all available keys...
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	Object.allKeys = function(o){
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		var res = []
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		for(var k in o){
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			res.push(k)
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		}
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		return res
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	}
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	// now make these into real methods we can use from any object...
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	Object.prototype.keys = function(){ return Object.keys(this) }
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	Object.prototype.allKeys = function(){ return Object.allKeys(this) }
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	b.keys()			// -> ['k']
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	b.allKeys()			// -> ['x', 'y', 'k', 'l', 'm']
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						// 	NOTE: x and y are set in the A constructor 
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						// 		above...
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// Inheritance chains
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// ------------------
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//
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// In both inheritance mechanisms, each step is checked via the same 
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// rules recursively, this makes it possible to build inheritance chains
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//
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// We will create a chain:
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//
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// 		c -> b -> a
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//
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	var a = {x: 1}
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	var b = Object.create(a)
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	b.y = 2
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	var c = Object.create(b)
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	c.x					// -> 1
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	c.y					// -> 2
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// Creating an inheritance chain via the constructor mechanism is a bit
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// more involved, and there are multiple ways to do this...
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//
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// Here we will create a similar chain to the above for comparison:
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//
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// 		C -> B -> A
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//
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	function A(){}
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	A.prototype.x = 1
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	function B(){}
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	// NOTE: if this is done after an instance is created, that instances'
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	// 		.__proto__ will keep referencing the old prototype object.
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	// 		see the next constructor for a way around this...
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	B.prototype = Object.create(A.prototype)
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	// NOTE: we'll need to overwire this to B as the value inherited from
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	// 		A.prototype will obviously be A...
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	B.prototype.constructor = B
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	B.prototype.y = 2
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	function C(){}
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	// NOTE: this is safer than Object.create as it does not overwrite
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	// 		the original C.prototype and thus will affect all existing 
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	// 		instances of C, if any were created before this point...
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	// NOTE: the C.prototype.constructor field is already set correctly 
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	// 		here as we are not replacing the object created by the 
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	// 		system...
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	C.prototype.__proto__ = B.prototype
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	var c = new C()
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	c.x					// -> 1
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	c.y					// -> 2
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// Checking inheritance (instanceof)
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// ---------------------------------
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//
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// An object is considered an instance of its' constructor and all other 
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// constructors in the inheritance chain.
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	c instanceof C		// -> true
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	c instanceof B		// -> true
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	c instanceof A		// -> true
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	c instanceof Object // -> true
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	c instanceof function X(){} 
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						// -> false
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// This also works for our manually created objects
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	var cc = construct(C)
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	cc instanceof C
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// But this will not work outside the constructor model, i.e. if the right 
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// parameter is not a function.
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	var x = {}
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	var y = Object.create(x)
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	try{
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		// this will fail as x is not a function...
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		y instanceof x
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	} catch(e){
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		console.log('error')
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	}
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// Again to make this simpler to understand we will implement our own
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// equivalent to instanceof:
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	function isInstanceOf(obj, proto){
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		return obj === Function && proto === Function ? true 
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			: (isInstanceOf(proto, Function)
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				&& (obj.__proto__ === proto.prototype ? true
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					// NOTE: the last in this chain is Object.prototype.__proto__ 
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					// 		and it is null
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					: obj.__proto__ == null ? false
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					// go down the chain...
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					: isInstanceOf(obj.__proto__, proto)))
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	}
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	isInstanceOf(c, C)	// -> true
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	isInstanceOf(c, B)	// -> true
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	isInstanceOf(c, A)	// -> true
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	isInstanceOf(c, Object)
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						// -> true
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	isInstanceOf(c, function X(){})
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						// -> false
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// Also take note of the following cases:
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	Object instanceof Function
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						// -> true
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	Function instanceof Object
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						// -> true
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	Object instanceof Object
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						// -> true
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	Function instanceof Function
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						// -> true
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// Now, the fact that a function object is both a function and an object
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// should be obvious:
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	function f(){}
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	f instanceof Function
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						// -> true
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	f instanceof Object
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						// -> true
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// Checking type (typeof)
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// ----------------------
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//
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// This section is mainly here for completeness and to address several
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// gotcha's.
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//
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// What typeof returns in JavaScript is not too useful and sometimes 
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// even odd...
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	typeof c			// -> 'object'
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// This might differ from implementation to implementation but 
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// essentially the main thing typeof is useful for is distinguishing
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// between objects and non-objects (numbers, strings, ...etc.)
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	// non-objects
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	typeof 1			// -> 'number'
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	typeof Infinity		// -> 'number'
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	typeof 'a'			// -> 'string'
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	typeof undefined	// -> 'undefined'
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	// objects
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	typeof {}			// -> 'object'
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	typeof []			// -> 'object'
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	// the odd stuff...
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	typeof NaN			// -> 'number'
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	typeof null			// -> 'object'
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	typeof function(){}	// -> 'function'
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// NOTE: the "non-object" term is not entirely correct here, they can
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// 		be called "frozen" objects in ES5 speak, but that is outside the
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// 		scope of this document.
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// Methods and the value of 'this'
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// -------------------------------
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//
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// A "method" is simply an attribute that references a function.
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 	function f(){
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		return this
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 	}
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	var o = { f: f }
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 | 
						|
// Thus we call the attribute .f of object o a "method" of object o.
 | 
						|
//
 | 
						|
//
 | 
						|
// 'this' is a reserved word and is available in the context of a function
 | 
						|
// execution, not just in methods, but what value it references depends
 | 
						|
// on how that function is called...
 | 
						|
// 'this' is mostly useful and used in methods.
 | 
						|
// 
 | 
						|
// A simple way to think about it is that 'this' always points to the 
 | 
						|
// "context" of the function call.
 | 
						|
//
 | 
						|
// There are three distinct cases here:
 | 
						|
// 	- function call / implicit context
 | 
						|
// 	- new call / implicit context
 | 
						|
// 	- method call / explicit context
 | 
						|
//
 | 
						|
//
 | 
						|
// 1) function call (implicit)
 | 
						|
//	In the first case the context is either global/window/module which 
 | 
						|
//	ever is the root context in a given implementation or undefined in
 | 
						|
//	ES5 strict mode
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
	f()					// -> window/global/module
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
//	Strict mode example:
 | 
						|
//
 | 
						|
	function strict_f(){
 | 
						|
		'use strict'
 | 
						|
		return this
 | 
						|
	}
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
	strict_f()			// -> undefined
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
// 2) new call (implicit)
 | 
						|
// 	Here as we have discussed before, 'this' is assigned a new object 
 | 
						|
// 	with some special attributes set.
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
	new f()				// -> {}
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
// 3) method call (explicit)
 | 
						|
// 	In the method call context this is set to the object from which the
 | 
						|
// 	method is called, i.e. the object left of the '.' or [ ] attribute 
 | 
						|
// 	access operators...
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
	o.f()				// -> o
 | 
						|
	o['f']()			// -> o
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
// 	...or an explicitly passed to .call(..) / .apply(..) function methods
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
	f.call(o)			// -> o
 | 
						|
	f.apply(o)			// -> o
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
// ES5 also defines a third way to make method calls: Function.bind which
 | 
						|
// creates a new function where 'this' is bound to the supplied object
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
	var ff = f.bind(o)
 | 
						|
	ff()				// -> o
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
// NOTE: all of the above 5 calls are the same.
 | 
						|
// NOTE: the resulting from .bind(..) function will ignore subsequent
 | 
						|
// 		.bind(..), .call(..) and .apply(..) method calls and 'this' will 
 | 
						|
// 		always be the original bound object.
 | 
						|
// NOTE: the difference between strict and "quirks" modes is in the 
 | 
						|
// 		following:
 | 
						|
// 		In quirks mode a function call is always done in the root 
 | 
						|
// 		context, it's like implicitly calling a method of the global
 | 
						|
// 		object:
 | 
						|
//			f() === window.f()	
 | 
						|
//						// -> true
 | 
						|
//		In strict mode these are two different things, a function call
 | 
						|
//		is done without a context ('this' is undefined) while calling
 | 
						|
//		the same function via the global object is essentially a method
 | 
						|
//		call, setting 'this' to what is to the left of the attribute 
 | 
						|
//		access operator:
 | 
						|
//			strict_f() !== window.strict_f()	
 | 
						|
//						// -> true
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
// Common use-cases
 | 
						|
// ----------------
 | 
						|
//
 | 
						|
// Several common object construction patterns:
 | 
						|
//
 | 
						|
// * Literal objects...
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
	var LiteralObject = {
 | 
						|
		x: 1,
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
		method: function(a){
 | 
						|
			return this.x * a
 | 
						|
		},
 | 
						|
	}
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
	var o = Object.create(LiteralObject)
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
// 	Advantages:
 | 
						|
// 		- simple and non-verbose
 | 
						|
// 		- fully introspective
 | 
						|
// 		- flexible and non-restrictive
 | 
						|
// 		- supports basic inheritance
 | 
						|
// 	
 | 
						|
// 	Disadvantages:
 | 
						|
// 		- needs a seporate manual instance construction stage (no 
 | 
						|
// 		  constructor)
 | 
						|
// 		- does not provide support for some of the base language 
 | 
						|
// 		  infrastructure, like type and instance checking
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
// * Constructor object...
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
	function ConstructorObject(){
 | 
						|
		this.x = 1
 | 
						|
	}
 | 
						|
	ConstructorObject.prototype.method = function(a){
 | 
						|
		return this.x * a
 | 
						|
	}
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
	var o = new ConstructorObject()
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
// 	Advantages:
 | 
						|
// 		- flexible
 | 
						|
// 		- fully introspective
 | 
						|
// 		- supports language mechanisms for type and instance checking
 | 
						|
// 		- supports inheritance
 | 
						|
// 	
 | 
						|
// 	Disadvantages:
 | 
						|
// 		- more complicated than the literal notation
 | 
						|
// 		- needs manual work to support inheritance, making it more even
 | 
						|
// 		  complicated
 | 
						|
// 		- does not provide support for multiple inheritance
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
// * Walled objects / Walled data
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
	function ObjectConstructor(){
 | 
						|
		// private data and functions...
 | 
						|
		var x = 1
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
		// the actual object defining both public data and methods...
 | 
						|
		return {
 | 
						|
			y: 2,
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
			method: function(a){
 | 
						|
				// use the private and public data...
 | 
						|
				return this.y * x * a
 | 
						|
			},
 | 
						|
		}
 | 
						|
	}
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
	var o = ObjectConstructor() 
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
// 	Advantages:
 | 
						|
// 		- supports hiding data from the user
 | 
						|
// 	
 | 
						|
// 	Disadvantages:
 | 
						|
// 		- non-introspective
 | 
						|
// 		- added complexity
 | 
						|
// 		- makes inheritance and extending very complicated and in some
 | 
						|
// 		  cases impossible
 | 
						|
// 		- copies code rather than reuses it
 | 
						|
// 		- does not provide support for some of the base language 
 | 
						|
// 		  infrastructure, like type and instance checking
 | 
						|
//
 | 
						|
//	NOTE: mostly inspired by languages supporting internal strict data 
 | 
						|
// 		context restrictions (e.g. private data) from the C++ family, 
 | 
						|
// 		e.g. C++, Java, C# and friends...
 | 
						|
//	NOTE: this style is called "defensive" coding by some sources, 
 | 
						|
//		including this one ;)
 | 
						|
// 	NOTE: this approach has it's use-cases, mainly in code dealing with
 | 
						|
// 		security, though general use of this pattern is not recommended 
 | 
						|
// 		as it adds lots of limitations and complexity without giving 
 | 
						|
// 		back any real benefits in the general case.
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
/*********************************************************************/
 | 
						|
//
 | 
						|
// NOTE: several topics available in ES5 are intentionally excluded 
 | 
						|
// 		from this document, these include:
 | 
						|
// 			- properties
 | 
						|
// 			- freezing/sealing
 | 
						|
// 		The general motivation for this is simple: they introduce 
 | 
						|
// 		complexity and restrictions without giving any real benefits 
 | 
						|
// 		in the common case.
 | 
						|
//
 | 
						|
// 		Cases where these features "might" be useful are:
 | 
						|
// 			- language design / language extending
 | 
						|
// 			- library code
 | 
						|
// 		Neither of these is a common case and the use of these features
 | 
						|
// 		for library code is debatable.
 | 
						|
//
 | 
						|
//
 | 
						|
/**********************************************************************
 | 
						|
* vim:set ts=4 sw=4 :                                                */
 |