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A Review of ES6 - Modules, Classes

Modules

Value Export/Import

Support for exporting/importing values from/to modules without global namespace pollution.

//  lib/math.js
export function sum (x, y) { return x + y }
export var pi = 3.141593

//  someApp.js
import * as math from "lib/math"
console.log("2π = " + math.sum(math.pi, math.pi))

//  otherApp.js
import { sum, pi } from "lib/math"
console.log("2π = " + sum(pi, pi))

Default & Wildcard

Marking a value as the default exported value and mass-mixin of values.

//  lib/mathplusplus.js
export * from "lib/math"
export var e = 2.71828182846
export default (x) => Math.exp(x)

//  someApp.js
import exp, { pi, e } from "lib/mathplusplus"
console.log("e^{π} = " + exp(pi))

Classes

Class Definition

More intuitive, OOP-style and boilerplate-free classes.

class Shape {
    constructor (id, x, y) {
        this.id = id
        this.move(x, y)
    }
    move (x, y) {
        this.x = x
        this.y = y
    }
}

Class Inheritance

More intuitive, OOP-style and boilerplate-free inheritance.

class Rectangle extends Shape {
    constructor (id, x, y, width, height) {
        super(id, x, y)
        this.width  = width
        this.height = height
    }
}
class Circle extends Shape {
    constructor (id, x, y, radius) {
        super(id, x, y)
        this.radius = radius
    }
}

Class Inheritance, From Expressions

Support for mixin-style inheritance by extending from expressions yielding function objects.

var aggregation = (baseClass, ...mixins) => {
    let base = class _Combined extends baseClass {
        constructor (...args) {
            super(...args)
            mixins.forEach((mixin) => {
                mixin.prototype.initializer.call(this)
            })
        }
    }
    let copyProps = (target, source) => {
        Object.getOwnPropertyNames(source)
            .concat(Object.getOwnPropertySymbols(source))
            .forEach((prop) => {
            if (prop.match(/^(?:constructor|prototype|arguments|caller|name|bind|call|apply|toString|length)$/))
                return
            Object.defineProperty(target, prop, Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(source, prop))
        })
    }
    mixins.forEach((mixin) => {
        copyProps(base.prototype, mixin.prototype)
        copyProps(base, mixin)
    })
    return base
}

class Colored {
    initializer ()     { this._color = "white" }
    get color ()       { return this._color }
    set color (v)      { this._color = v }
}

class ZCoord {
    initializer ()     { this._z = 0 }
    get z ()           { return this._z }
    set z (v)          { this._z = v }
}

class Shape {
    constructor (x, y) { this._x = x; this._y = y }
    get x ()           { return this._x }
    set x (v)          { this._x = v }
    get y ()           { return this._y }
    set y (v)          { this._y = v }
}

class Rectangle extends aggregation(Shape, Colored, ZCoord) {}

var rect = new Rectangle(7, 42)
rect.z     = 1000
rect.color = "red"
console.log(rect.x, rect.y, rect.z, rect.color)

Base Class Access

Intuitive access to base class constructor and methods

class Shape {
    toString () {
        return `Shape(${this.id})`
    }
}
class Rectangle extends Shape {
    constructor (id, x, y, width, height) {
        super(id, x, y)
    }
    toString () {
        return "Rectangle > " + super.toString()
    }
}
class Circle extends Shape {
    constructor (id, x, y, radius) {
        super(id, x, y)
    }
    toString () {
        return "Circle > " + super.toString()
    }
}

Static Members

Simple support for static class members.

class Rectangle extends Shape {
    static defaultRectangle () {
        return new Rectangle("default", 0, 0, 100, 100)
    }
}
class Circle extends Shape {
    static defaultCircle () {
        return new Circle("default", 0, 0, 100)
    }
}
var defRectangle = Rectangle.defaultRectangle()
var defCircle    = Circle.defaultCircle()

Getter/Setter

Getter/Setter also directly within classes.

class Rectangle {
    constructor (width, height) {
        this._width  = width
        this._height = height
    }
    set width  (width)  { this._width = width               }
    get width  ()       { return this._width                }
    set height (height) { this._height = height             }
    get height ()       { return this._height               }
    get area   ()       { return this._width * this._height }
}
var r = new Rectangle(50, 20)
r.area === 1000

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