scooj - Simple Classical OO for JavaScript

The "pseudo-classical" object oriented class definition style in JavaScript seems to be dismissed by all the kewl JavaScript folk, but one of my thoughts is that JavaScript actual needs some order brought to it, for today's JavaScript mega-programs. Because there is no order, and programs become as maintainable as BASICA programs of yore. CommonJS modules help some - they can help you keep your large chunks of code better organized. But I yearn for classic OO. This is an experiment.

scooj is designed to run in a CommonJS module system. If you need a CommonJS module system for a browser, look at modjewel.

scooj is a JavaScript library that let's you define "classes" that have instance methods and static methods. Classes can have superclasses, and a real super method invocation is available.

See the included tests for some basic use cases.

Beyond that description, you probably won't be using the scooj module directly. Instead, you'll author your classes in .scoop files, which you compile into JavaScript source files with the scoopc.py compiler.

scoopc.py - scooj compiler

If you use the scooj module functions in your code, you may not be terribly happy with the verbosity of the resultant code. It's better than doing the equivalent 'by hand', but it's still ... wordy.

scoopc is designed to fix that. It's a "compiler" which takes files consisting of JavaScript code prefixed with "directive lines", and generates new JavaScript files. The "directive lines" are lines in the file which are used to declare methods, classes, etc. See the file Animals.scoop for an example of a .scoop file.

Generally, directives are used to define functions. You specify the function/method/property name and optional parameter list in the directive, and the body of the function following the directive. The outer-most braces required by JavaScript for function definitions are not needed for the function bodies when using scoop.

One important feature of scoopc is that the resulting JavaScript file will have the same line structure as the original scoop file. If you have syntax errors in your JavaScript file, you won't have to guess at what line number the problem is back in the scoop file - it'll be the same line.

Enjoy brace-, bracket-, and comma-free class defining!

scoop directive - class

class className
class className (parameter list)
class className < superclassName
class className (parameter list) < superclassName

The class directive defines a new class. It can optionally define a parameter list for the constructor, and a superclass.

The JavaScript code following this directive becomes the body of the constructor function for the class.

scoop directive - static method

static method methodName
static method methodName (parameter list)

The static method directive defines a new static method on the previously defined class. It can optionally define a parameter list for the method.

The JavaScript code following this directive becomes the body of the static method.

scoop directive - static getter

static getter propertyName

The static getter directive defines a property getter for the previously defined class.

The JavaScript code following this directive becomes the body of the getter function for the property.

Note that this directive generates code that makes use of the ECMAScript 5 property accessor APIs.

scoop directive - static setter

static setter propertyName (parameter list)

The static setter directive defines a property setter for the previously defined class.

The JavaScript code following this directive becomes the body of the setter function for the property.

Note that this directive generates code that makes use of the ECMAScript 5 property accessor APIs.

scoop directive - method

method
method (parameter list)

The method directive defines an instance method for the previously defined class. It can optionally define a parameter list for the method.

The JavaScript code following this directive becomes the body of the method.

scoop directive - getter

getter propertyName

The getter directive defines a property getter for instances of the previously defined class.

The JavaScript code following this directive becomes the body of the getter function for the property.

Note that this directive generates code that makes use of the ECMAScript 5 property accessor APIs.

scoop directive - setter

setter propertyName (parameter list)

The setter directive defines a property setter for instances of the previously defined class.

The JavaScript code following this directive becomes the body of the setter function for the property.

Note that this directive generates code that makes use of the ECMAScript 5 property accessor APIs.

scoop directive - init

init

The JavaScript code following this directive is left unadorned in the resulting JavaScript file. It's similar to Java's static initializer blocks.

scoop directive - function

function
function (parameter list)

The function directive defines a function defined globally within the module's scope. It can optionally define a parameter list for the function.

The JavaScript code following this directive becomes the body of the function.

scoop directive - require

require moduleName

require moduleName as variableName

The require directive is used to generate a require() function within the module. The specified module is assigned to a variable name which is the basename of the moduleName. Optionally, you may specify the variable name which gets used by using the as form.

The JavaScript code following this directive not otherwise processed.

scoop directive - requireClass

requireClass moduleName

requireClass moduleName as variableName

Same as the require directive, but getClass() is called on the object returned from the require() function, which is presumably the first class defined in the scoop module.

Running the scoopc.py compiler

The command line for scoopc.py is as follows:

scoopc.py [options] FILE FILE ...

scoopc.py converts .scoop files to .js files. FILE can be a .scoop file or a directory of .scoop files. Each .scoop file is converted to a root module, and each directory of .scoop files is considered a root for it's contained .scoop files (the directory name FILE is not part of the module name.

Options:

--version          show program's version number and exit
-h, --help         show this help message and exit
-o DIR, --out=DIR  generate .js files in DIR (default: .)
-q, --quiet        be quiet
-v, --verbose      be noisy

Copyright / License

Copyright (c) 2010 Patrick Mueller

Licensed under the MIT license