Develop Reference

Simplify the code by using cycle function

I have multiply functions which are using the same cycle code and i'm wondering is it possible to simplify the code by having one cycle function so i could execute the code just by calling wanted function names.
Now:
for(var i=0;i<all;i++){ someFunction(i) }
Need:
cycle(someFunction);
function cycle(name){
for(var i=0;i<all;i++){
name(i);
}
}
I tried to do this by using "window" and i get no error but the function is not executed.
var MyLines = new lineGroup();
MyLines.createLines(); // works
MyLines.addSpeed(); // doesn't work
var lineGroup = function(){
this.lAmount = 5,
this.lines = [],
this.createLines = function (){
for(var i=0,all=this.lAmount;i<all;i++){
this.lines[i] = new line();
}
},
this.addSpeed = function (){
// no error, but it's not executing addSpeed function
// if i write here a normal cycle like in createLines function
// it's working ok
this.linesCycle("addSpeed");
},
this.linesCycle = function(callFunction){
for(var i=0,all=this.lAmount;i<all;i++){
window['lineGroup.lines['+i+'].'+callFunction+'()'];
}
}
}
var line = function (){
this.addSpeed = function (){
console.log("works");
}
}

window['lineGroup.lines['+i+'].'+callFunction+'()'];
literally tries to access a property that starts with lineGroups.lines[0]. Such a property would only exist if you explicitly did window['lineGroups.lines[0]'] = ... which I'm sure you didn't.
There is no need to involve window at all. Just access the object's line property:
this.lines[i][callFunction]();
i get no error but the function is not executed.
Accessing a non-existing property doesn't generate errors. Example:
window[';dghfodstf0ap9sdufgpas9df']
This tries to access the property ;dghfodstf0ap9sdufgpas9df, but since it doesn't exist, this will result in undefined. Since nothing is done with the return value, no change can be observed.

Without a name space use:
window["functionName"](arguments);
SO wrap it up and use it thus:
cycle(someFunction);
function cycle(name){
for(var i=0;i<all;i++){
window[name](i);;
}
}
With a namespace, include that:
window["Namespace"]["myfunction"](i);

Note that this is likely a bit of overkill but using a function to make a class object (you can google the makeClass and why it is/could be useful) you can create instances of the object.
// makeClass - By Hubert Kauker (MIT Licensed)
// original by John Resig (MIT Licensed).
function makeClass() {
var isInternal;
return function (args) {
if (this instanceof arguments.callee) {
if (typeof this.init == "function") {
this.init.apply(this, isInternal ? args : arguments);
}
} else {
isInternal = true;
var instance = new arguments.callee(arguments);
isInternal = false;
return instance;
}
};
}
var line = function () {
this.addSpeed = function () {
console.log("works");
};
};
var LineGroup = makeClass();
LineGroup.prototype.init = function (lineNumber) {
this.lAmount = lineNumber?lineNumber:5,
this.lines = [],
this.createLines = function (mything) {
console.log(mything);
var i = 0;
for (; i < this.lAmount; i++) {
this.lines[i] = new line();
}
},
this.addSpeed = function () {
console.log("here");
this.linesCycle("addSpeed");
},
this.linesCycle = function (callFunction) {
console.log("called:" + callFunction);
var i = 0;
for (; i < this.lAmount; i++) {
this.lines[i][callFunction]();
}
};
};
var myLines = LineGroup();
myLines.createLines("createlines");
myLines.addSpeed();
//now add a new instance with 3 "lines"
var newLines = LineGroup(3);
newLines.createLines("createlines2")
console.log("addspeed is a:" + typeof newLines.addSpeed);
console.log("line count"+newLines.lAmount );
newLines.addSpeed();

JavaScript function chaining using the singleton pattern

I have a small piece of code written like in below.
var MY = MY || {};
MY.Farm = (function () {
var add = function(x){
console.log(x)
return this + this;
};
return {
add: function(x){
return add(x);
}
}
});
On a separate file I create sheep an instance of MY.Farm
var sheep = new MY.Farm()
I want to be able to call the function like the following with an output 6
sheep.add(3).add(2).add(1)
Any ideas how I can achieve this? What are the changes required to the MY.Farm snippet to accommodate this?
Thanks in advance.

Something like this
var MY = MY || {};
MY.Farm = (function () {
var x=0;
return {
add: function(newX){
if(typeof(newX) !="undefined") {
x+=newX;
return this;
}
return x;
}
}
});
var sheep = MY.Farm();
console.log( sheep.add(2).add(4).add());
http://jsfiddle.net/7q0143er/

You're not too far off. The trick is you need to keep track of the value somewhere, like in a private variable, and add needs to return this. Finally, you need a way to get the value out when you're done:
MY.Farm = function () {
var total = 0;
return {
add: function(x) {
total += x;
return this;
},
value: function() {
return total;
}
};
};
var sheep = new MY.Farm();
sheep.add(3);
console.log(sheep.value()); // => 3
console.log(sheep.add(1).add(2).value()); // => 6

Writing a function to set some but not necessarily all parameters in another function

I had a coding interview test that asked the following question which I was not able to fully solve. I'm wondering the best way to do this following my approach -- also sorry this is long.
You are given a function to read in like this (not necessarily 2 parameters):
function add(a, b) {
return a + b;
}
The objective is to create a function to initialize some of those variables and again call the function to perform the calculation like, function setParam(func, params). To use this you would do the following:
_add = setParam(add, {b:9})
_add(10) // should return 19
My solution was to parse the function to see how many parameters there are, then set them using the given parameters but since I barely know javascript I was never able to actually return a function with only some variables set and others still undefined.
(attempt at solution)
function setParam(func, params) {
// varray is an array of the the varriables from the function, func
// ie varray = [a,b] in this test
var varray = /function[^\(]*\(([^\)]*)\)/.exec(func.toString())[1].split(',');
//creates an array, paramset, that has the variables in func defined
//where possible
// ex paramset = [a,9] if only b was set
var paramsset = []
for (i = 0; i < varray.length; i++) {
if (typeof(params[varray[i]]) == "undefined"){
paramsset[i] = varray[i];
} else {
paramsset[i] = params[varray[i]];
}
}
//////
// need to modify existing function and return with added parameters
// where I'm stuck as this doesn't work.
newfunc = (function(){
var _func = func;
return function() {
return _func.apply(this, paramsset);
}
})();
newfunc()
}
I'm sure I'm not doing this the correct way, but any help would be appreciated.

I'm certainly not advocating to go towards that solution, but I still implemented something to follow your initial's API design for fun. The signatures weak map is necessary in order to preserve the initial function's signature so that we can call setParams again on partially applied functions.
var setParams = (function () {
var signatures = new WeakMap();
return function (fn, paramsToApply) {
var signature = signatureOf(fn), newFn;
validateParams(paramsToApply, signature.params);
newFn = function () {
var params = appliedParamsFrom(arguments, paramsToApply, signature.indexes);
return fn.apply(this, params);
};
signatures.set(newFn, signature);
return newFn;
};
function signatureOf(fn) {
return signatures.has(fn)?
signatures.get(fn) :
parseSignatureOf(fn);
}
function parseSignatureOf(fn) {
return String(fn)
.match(/function.*?\((.*?)\)/)[1]
.replace(/\s+/g, '')
.split(',')
.reduce(function (r, param, index) {
r.indexes[param] = index;
r.params.push(param);
return r;
}, { indexes: {}, params: [] });
}
function validateParams(paramsToApply, actualParams) {
Object.keys(paramsToApply).forEach(function (param) {
if (actualParams.indexOf(param) == -1) throw new Error("parameter '" + param + "' could not be found in the function's signature which is: 'function (" + actualParams + ")'");
});
}
function appliedParamsFrom(args, paramsToApply, paramsIndex) {
var appliedParams = [],
usedIndexes = [],
argsIndex = 0,
argsLen = args.length,
argSpotIndex = 0;
Object.keys(paramsToApply).forEach(function (param) {
var index = paramsIndex[param];
appliedParams[index] = paramsToApply[param];
usedIndexes.push(index);
});
while (argsIndex < argsLen) {
if (usedIndexes.indexOf(argSpotIndex) == -1) {
appliedParams[argSpotIndex] = args[argsIndex++];
}
++argSpotIndex;
}
return appliedParams;
}
})();
function add(a, b) { return a + b; }
var addTo9 = setParams(add, { b: 9 });
var add10To9 = setParams(addTo9, { a: 10 });
document.write(addTo9(10) + ', ' + add10To9());
Now, note that JavaScript comes with the Function.prototype.bind function which allows to perform in-order partial function application. The first parameter to bind has nothing to do with arguments, it's to bind the this value.
function add(a, b) { return a + b; }
var addTo9 = add.bind(null, 9);
document.write(addTo9(10));
And finally, an implementation with a placholder if you need one:
var partial = (function (undefined) {
var PLACEHOLDER = {};
function partial(fn, partialArgs) {
return function () {
return fn.apply(this, applyPartialArgs(arguments, partialArgs));
};
}
Object.defineProperty(partial, 'PLACEHOLDER', {
get: function () { return PLACEHOLDER; }
});
return partial;
function applyPartialArgs(args, partialArgs) {
var appliedArgs = partialArgs.map(function (arg) {
return arg === PLACEHOLDER? undefined : arg;
}),
partialArgsLen = partialArgs.length,
argsLen = args.length,
argsIndex = 0,
argSpotIndex = 0;
while (argsIndex < argsLen) {
if (
partialArgs[argSpotIndex] === PLACEHOLDER ||
argSpotIndex >= partialArgsLen
) {
appliedArgs[argSpotIndex] = args[argsIndex++];
}
++argSpotIndex;
}
return appliedArgs;
}
})();
function add(a, b, c, d) {
return a + b + c + d;
}
var _ = partial.PLACEHOLDER;
var addTo9 = partial(add, [_, 5, _, 4]);
document.write(addTo9(5, 5));

I'm guessing that they might have been testing for knowledge of partial application. (not currying)
Edit: Edited based upon your comments. This is Crockford's curry function straight from his book.
function add(a, b) {
return a + b;
}
if (!Function.prototype.partial) {
Function.prototype.partial = function() {
var slice = Array.prototype.slice,
args = new Array(arguments.length),
that = this;
for (var i = 0; i < args.length; i++) {
args[i] = arguments[i];
}
return function() {
return that.apply(null, args.concat(slice.apply(arguments)));
}
};
}
var example = add.partial(4);
console.log(example(10)); // output 14
console.log(example(20)); // output 24
var example = adder(4) assigns example to be function with a closure with a (in this case 4). When example is called like in the console.log, it will in effect be returning "the value of a when example was assigned, plus this new number."
Walkthrough of the partial() function:
Converts arguments to an array
returns a function gets passed the arguments given, which can be called later. It has a closure with the previously assigned arguments.

Serialize and deserialize JS object

I lately was experimenting with the object serialization in JavaScript. I have already been looking through some of the questions concerning the serialization and deserialization of predefined object in Javascript, but I am looking for a more general solution. An example of this would be:
function anObject(){
var x = 1;
this.test = function(){return x;};
this.add = function(a){x+a;};
}
var x = new anObject();
x.add(2);
console.log(x.test());
>>> 3
var y = deserialize(serialize(x));
console.log(y.test());
>>> 3
Is there a way to serialize this object and deserialize it, such that the deserialized object still have access to the local variable x without the use of the prototype of that object (like in this solution)?
I have already tried by just storing the function as a string and evaluating it again, but then the state of an object can not be saved.

What you are trying to do is not possible without code introspection and code re-writing which I think is not a good idea. However, what about something like this?
function AnObject() {
var x = 1;
this.x = function () { return x; };
this.addToX = function (num) { x += num; };
this.memento = function () {
return { x: x };
};
this.restoreState = function (memento) {
x = memento.x;
};
}
var o = new AnObject();
o.addToX(2);
o.x(); //3
var serializedState = JSON.stringify(o.memento()),
o = new AnObject();
o.restoreState(JSON.parse(serializedState));
o.x(); //3
However, please note that having priviledged members comes at a great cost because you lose the benefits of using prototypes. For that reason I prefer not enforcing true privacy and rely on naming conventions such as this._myPrivateVariable instead (unless you are hiding members of a module).

Thanks for the responses. While the answer from plalx works perfectly for specific objects, I wanted to have something more general which just works for any object you throw at it.
Another solution one can use is something like this:
function construct(constructor, args, vars) {
function Obj() {
var variables = vars
return constructor.apply(this, args);
}
Obj.prototype = constructor.prototype;
return new Obj();
}
function addFunction(anObject, aFunction, variables) {
var objectSource = anObject.toString();
var functionSource = aFunction.toString();
objectSource = objectSource.substring(0,objectSource.length-1);
var functionName = functionSource.substring(9, functionSource.indexOf('('));
var functionArgs = functionSource.substring(functionSource.indexOf('('), functionSource.indexOf('{')+1);
var functionBody = functionSource.substring(functionSource.indexOf('{')+1, functionSource.length);
return objectSource + "this." + functionName + " = function" +
functionArgs + "var variables = " + variables + ";\n" + functionBody + "}";
}
function makeSerializable(anObject) {
var obj = JSON.stringify(anObject, function(key, val) {
return ((typeof val === "function") ? val+'' : val);
});
var variables = [];
while(obj.indexOf("var") > -1) {
var subString = obj.substring(obj.indexOf("var")+3, obj.length-1);
while (subString[0] == " ")
subString = subString.replace(" ", "");
var varEnd = Math.min(subString.indexOf(" "), subString.indexOf(";"));
var varName = subString.substring(0, varEnd);
variables.push(varName);
obj = obj.replace("var","");
}
var anObjectSource = addFunction(anObject,
function serialize(){
var vars = [];
console.log("hidden variables:" + variables);
variables.forEach(function(variable) {
console.log(variable + ": " + eval(variable));
vars += JSON.stringify([variable, eval(variable)]);
});
var serialized = [];
serialized.push(vars);
for (var func in this){
if (func != "serialize")
serialized.push([func, this[func].toString()]);
}
return JSON.stringify(serialized);
},
JSON.stringify(variables));
anObject = Function("return " + anObjectSource)();
var params = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments);
params.shift();
return construct(anObject, params, variables);
}
This allows you to serialize all elements of any object, including the hidden variables. The serialize() function can then be replaced by a custom string representation for the hidden variables, which can be used when deserializing the string representation to the object.
usage:
function anObject(){
var x = 1;
var y = [1,2];
var z = {"name": "test"};
this.test = function(){return x;};
this.add = function(a){x+a;};
}
var test = makeSerializable(anObject)
test.serialize()
>>>["[\"x\",1][\"y\",[1,2]][\"z\",{\"name\":\"test\"}]",["test","function (){return x;}"],["add","function (a){x+a;}"]]

Getter in object isn't returning a value Javascript

I have a problem with return a value from an object.
my object looks like this.
function XYZ(date, startT)
{
var _date=date;
var _startT=startT;
this.get_date = function() {
return _date;
};
this.set_date = function(value) {
_date=value;
};
this.get_startT = function() {
return _startT;
};
this.set_startT = function(value) {
_startT=value;
};
this.toString()
return (_date + " " _startT);
}
then i create an Array like this
jsData[0] =new XYZ("2012-11-11","8:00");
jsData[1] = new XYZ("2012-03-03","8:00");
when i want to use get_date method it didn't return me the value but the get_startT method works fine.
When i show object with .toString method it also show me full object
Please help.

It works if you fix all the syntax errors:
function XYZ(date, startT) {
var _date=date;
var _startT=startT;
this.get_date = function() {
return _date;
};
this.set_date = function(value) {
_date=value;
};
this.get_startT = function() {
return _startT;
};
this.set_startT = function(value) {
_startT=value;
};
}
var jsData = [];
jsData[0] = new XYZ("2012-11-11","8:00");
jsData[1] = new XYZ("2012-03-03","8:00");
display("jsData[0].get_date() = " + jsData[0].get_date());
Output:
jsData[0].get_date() = 2012-11-11
Live Copy | Source
Other than obvious typos, here's what I did:
Put { and } around the function body.
Removed the this.toString() which was non-functional (a no-op, as you didn't store the result anywhere).
Removed the return at the end, because returning a string primitive out of a constructor function is another no-op.
Declared jsData.
Initialized jsData.

You appear to be missing a opening bracket { after
function XYZ(date, startT)
And one at the end of your code. (})

Try adding methods to the function prototype like this:
function XYZ(date, startT) {
this._date = date;
this._startT = startT;
}
XYZ.prototype.get_date = function() {
return this._date;
}
XYZ.prototype.set_date = function(value) {
this._date = value;
}
XYZ.prototype.get_startT = function() {
return this._startT;
}
XYZ.prototype.set_startT = function(value) {
this._startT = value;
}
XYZ.prototype.toString = function() {
return this._date + " " + this._startT;
}
var myXYZ = new XYZ("2012-11-11","8:00");
myXYZ.toString(); // "2012-11-11 8:00"
I tested that in the console and it outputs the final string correctly.