Fixing Javascript inheritance

Anders Engblom discovered a problem with the applySuper method in version 0.2 of my mocha-inheritance code. The applySuper method wasn't properly keeping track of the prototype chain in cases where it inherited a method that itself called applySuper again. The best solution that I can think of so far is to add a "__parent" property to the inherited method, which points to the constructor that defined it.

So, here is the updated version:

/**

 * Mocha Inheritance -- Javascript prototype inheritance reduced to the max.

 * 

 * Chris Zumbrunn chris@zumbrunn.com http://zumbrunn.com

 * version 0.3, March 26, 2007

 */



Function.prototype.inherit = function(fnc) {

    var constr = this;

    var Constructor = function(){

        if (fnc)

            fnc.apply(this, arguments);

        constr.apply(this, arguments);

    };

    Constructor.prototype = new (fnc || this)();

    Constructor.prototype.constructor = fnc || this;

    return Constructor;

};



Function.prototype.applySuper = function(method,obj,args) {

    var that = arguments.callee.caller.__parent || this;

    do {

        if (that.prototype[method] && that.prototype[method] != obj[method]

              && that.prototype[method] != arguments.callee.caller) {

            that.prototype[method].__parent = that;

            return that.prototype[method].apply(obj,args);

        }

        that = that.prototype.constructor;

    } while (that != Object);

};

Example page and code with some additional syntactic sugar:

See the Mocha Inheritance wiki page on the Helma site for more details and to provide your comments.

Shutdown-Day the Helma way

(from #helma on irc.freenode.net)

Upcoming Helma 1.6, new reference docs and IRC channel

There is a lot happening right now in Helmaland . The Helma 1.6 release is not far away and offers many interesting new features , besides all the changes related to Rhino 1.6, particularly the new skin macro features Hannes has just implemented.

On the Jala front there have been already two updates to that new library, most interestingly, providing Helma with a unit testing framework .

Also, Helma 1.6 will include the new reference documentation without the Jala sections (since the Jala library is not included in the default package) rendered like this .

And last but not least, there is now a #helma IRC channel , where you will likely find additional support to what's provided on the mailing lists: #helma on irc.freenode.net

Making Higgs where the Web was born

Brian Cox talking at the Lift conference about the Large Hadron Collider that will be put into operation at CERN later this year, which amongst other "things" will tell us whether Higgs bosons exit or not:

26.2.2007, 21:17

Jala for Helma

ORF Online and Teletext Austria bring us Jala , an open-source collection of JavaScript modules for the Helma Javascript Web Application Framework.

The different Jala modules provide support for GNU gettext compatible internationalization, asynchronous request dispatching, HopObject collection rendering, captcha style challenge-response checks, writers for XML, RSS and Potcast feeds, and lots more goodies, which basically means, it picks up where the modules that are currently included with Helma leave off.

See you at Lift'07

Laurent talked to World Radio Geneva about the upcoming Lift conference (February 7-9) :

http://zumbrunn.com/mochazone/wrgfm-lift07.m4a

More on Javascript Inheritance

I changed the syntax of the Mocha Inheritance code a bit, to what I think you'll agree is easier to read:

Function.prototype.inherit = function(fnc) {

    var constr = this;

    var Constructor = function(){

        if (fnc)

            fnc.apply(this, arguments);

        constr.apply(this, arguments);

    };

    Constructor.prototype = new (fnc || this)();

    Constructor.prototype.constructor = fnc || this;

    return Constructor;

 };

Prototype inheritance reduced to the max :-)

>>> Mocha Inheritance