Replace js-oo with class.js about socket.io

[christiaan]

What about just rewriting the transports to not extend Client but implement a "Transport" interface and let Client use a Transport using dependency injection?

From what I've seen giving the source a quick glimpse extend is only used for the transports. Avoiding extend alltogether makes it possible to just use native "classes".

[rauchg]

It's not only about extend, it's also about mixing in other prototypes elegantly (options, eventemitter), and user-defined ones in the future (ie: plugins)

[christiaan]

So having a simple augment() function to augment a prototype with another object should also be enough?

function augment(to /*, from */) {
  var i, k, from;
  for(i = 1; i < arguments.length; i++) {
    from = arguments[i];
    for(k in from) {
      to[k] = from[k];
    }
  }
}

So you can do
augment(Listener.prototype, process.EventEmitter.prototype, Options);

[rauchg]

It definitely could, but IMHO then the class looks confusing. Just take a look at node's http.js to see what I mean, and see if you can quickly tell classes apart, identify the contructor quickly, see what they inherit / mixin etc. Anyway, I'm open to this possibility too, I just don't see any disadvantage from using class.js.

[christiaan]

JSlint specifies that constructor functions should start with a capital and normal function should never start with a capital.
See http://www.jslint.com/ and especially the "Require Initial Caps for constructors" option.
It seems like http.js in node also obey's this standard.

Also I found http://www.crockford.com/javascript/inheritance.html quite enlightening about this subject. Especially the last paragraph on the page.

[christiaan]

After examining http.js in node it seems that node already has this augment() function I described it's called sys.inherits
so it turns out to sys.inherits(Listener, process.EventEmitter);

Edit: after checking out sys.inherits. it doesnt work like augment but it is a try to mimic classical inheritance working as a extend method.

[rauchg]

Yep, I've read that page many times. Unfortunately the last paragraph is anecdotic, and doesn't reflect in reality:

ClientRequest.prototype.end = function () {
  if (arguments.length > 0) {
    throw new Error( "ClientRequest.prototype.end does not take any arguments. "
               + "Add a response listener manually to the request object."
               );
  }
  OutgoingMessage.prototype.end.call(this);
};

That's uber being used, but without the handy shortcut.

[rauchg]

(The same goes for most of the constructors in http.js)

[christiaan]

Then still.. it seems like almost everything that js-oo provides is already by default in Node.js in the form of that sys.inherits() except for the mixin part (wich the augment function I posted provides).

I guess using those two is more minimal and lightweight than any other external library ;)