JavaScript parasitic inheritance, power constructors and instanceof.

Abstract. This posting shows how one can make Crockford's power constructor functions play nicely with the JavaScript keyword 'instanceof.'

[update: March 18, 2008. I asked Crockford what he thinks about this pattern, and he actually discourages the use of 'instanceof' -- instead, he prefers to "... rely instead on good design and polymorphism."]

The inheritance model of JavaScript is based on a combination of the 'new' keyword and the prototype property of (constructor) functions. JavaScript Guru Douglas Crockford (aka 'Yoda') argues that this model (which he calls pseudo-classical) is awkward. Instead, he proposes an elegant, powerful and simple model (parasitic inheritance), using so-called power constructor functions. Note, familiarity with the above concepts is necessary for complete understanding of this post [and something that every web developer should know anyway ;-)].

The advantages of power constructor functions include support for private, shared and public variables as well as simplicty (avoiding new and prototype). There is a mismatch, however, between constructors and the JavaScript keyword, instanceof. Consider the following example:

//recall that the object function creates a new object which has
//the input object, o, as its prototype
var object = (function() {
     function F() {}
     return function(o) {
         F.prototype = o;
         return new F();
     };
})();//included for completeness.
var OriginalPerson = {
   sayHello: function(){
      return "Hello, my name is "+this.getName();
   },
   getName: function(){return 'Adam';}
};

function Person(name) {
  var p = object(OriginalPerson);
  p.getName = function() {return name;};
  return p;
}

function Guru(name,topic) {
  var g = object(Person(name));//Technically we don't need object(.) here
  g.getTopic = function() {return topic;};
  return g;
}

var karl = Person('Karl');
var crockford = Guru('Douglas','JavaScript');

karl instanceof Person;//<- false 
crockford instanceof Guru;//<- false 

Hmm... Clearly, any environment that makes crockford instanceof Guru evaluate to false must be getting something wrong!

In general, one has to do something to make super-constructors work with instanceof. The expression exp1 instanceof exp2 where exp1,exp2 are JS expressions (exp2 must evaluate to a function and exp1 should evaluate to an object) works with following semantics:

First exp1 is evaluated, say, to o then
exp2 is evaluated, say, to f. If o is an object and f is a function, the entire expression evaluates to true only if following o's [[prototype]] chain, we can reach f.prototype.

This means that to make this work, we must ensure that the object created has Person.prototype or Guru.prototype in its prototype chain.

What I would really like to end up with at the end of this blog entry, is to be able to write code similar to:

var OriginalPerson = {
   sayHello: function(){
      return "Hello, my name is "+this.getName();
   },
   getName: function(){return 'Adam';}
};

var Person = OriginalPerson.parasite(function(Host,name) {
  var p = object(Host());
  p.getName = function() {return name;};
  return p;
});

var Guru = Person.parasite(function(Host, name,topic) {
  var g = object(Host(name));
  g.getTopic = function() {return topic;};
  return g;
});

Guru('Douglas Crockford','JavaScript') instanceof Guru;//<-- true 
Guru('Douglas Crockford','JavaScript') instanceof Person;//<-- true

The extra parameter Host is supposed to represent the "Host" of the parasite (i.e., Person in the case of Guru), the idea being that the parasite function will somehow 'wrap' the Person function to set it up so that 'instanceof' works, and then finally feed this wrapped function to the parasite (via the Host variable). I won't be able to write the code exactly as above, but we will get close... Anyway, hopefully this will make more sense very soon!

We will get there in two steps. First we code it up manually (so to speak) and secondly we will do the meta-programming with parasite.

Incidentally, we can exploit Crockford's 'shared secrets' technique to get the prototype chain working. Consider the following code.

function Person(name, proto) {
  var p = object(proto || Person.prototype);
  p.getName = function() {return name;};
  return p;
}
Person.prototype = {
   sayHello: function(){
      return "Hello, my name is "+this.getName();
   },
   getName: function(){return 'Adam';}
};
Person('Karl') instanceof Person;//<-- true

The key here is the statement: object(proto || Person.prototype). This ensures that the object created has Person.prototype in its [[prototype]] chain. The proto ||-part is intended to be used as a 'shared secret' between a parasite 'sub type'/'sub power constructor'; the invariant is that proto || Person.prototype will always denote an object which is Person.prototype or has it in its prototype chain. It can be used as follows:

function Guru(name,topic,proto) {
  var g = object(Person(name, proto || Guru.prototype));
  g.getTopic = function() {return topic;};
  return g;
}
Guru.prototype = object(Person.prototype);
Guru('Douglas Crockford','JavaScript') instanceof Guru;//<-- true
Guru('Douglas Crockford','JavaScript') instanceof Person;//<-- true

Actually, I feel some pleasure in the assignments:

Person.prototype = {
   sayHello: function(){
      return "Hello, my name is "+this.getName();
   },
   getName: function(){return 'Adam';}
};

and Guru.prototype = object(Person.prototype);: Intutively, these objects are the 'prototypes' of the objects created by the power constructors, so it feels natural to make this assignment.

So far so good - we have instanceof working with power-constructors, but we can do better. The problem now is to do the meta-programming that will handle the 'secret-sharing' behind the scenes.

In this example, we will enhance Object.prototype and Function.prototype. For simplicity I've introduced the constraint that all power-constructor functions should take only one argument [however, I'm convinced this can be generalized to more than one argument].

Note, slightly off topic here...
In either case, I've developed at taste for single-argument functions. Consider:

/** power-constructer for Guru objects 
  *@param conf {Object} a configuration object with properties:
  * name and topic
  * @return a Guru object with name: conf.name and topic: conf.topic.
  */
function Guru(conf){
  var g = object(Person(conf)),
      t = conf.topic || 'none';
  g.getTopic = function(){return t;};
  return g;
}
Guru({name:'Yoda', topic:'JavaScript'});

The disadvantage is that there is slightly more code to write. The advantages are (1) readability: Guru({name:'Yoda', topic:'JavaScript'}) can be read without having to consult the constructor function about which argument is the name and which is the topic; (2) optional/default arguments: you can leave out either of the arguments: Guru({name:'Yoda'}) or Guru({topic:'JavaScript'}) are both valid (in the multiple arg constructor with name as the first parameter, you'd have to write Guru('Yoda') (which is fine), and Guru(undefined,'JavaScript') (which is not).

Back on track
The following is my implementation. I extend Object.prototype and Function.prototype so that we can write:

var OriginalPerson = {
   sayHello: function(){
      return "Hello, my name is "+this.getName();
   },
   getName: function(){return 'Adam';}
};

var Person = OriginalPerson.parasite(function(Host, conf) {
  var p = object(Host()),
      name = conf.name || 'Anonymous';
  p.getName = function() {return name;};
  return p;
});

var Guru = Person.parasite(function(Host, conf) {
  var g = object(Host(conf)),
      topic = conf.topic || 'none';
  g.getTopic = function() {return topic;}
  return g;
});
var h = Guru({
 name: 'Douglas Crockford',
 topic: 'JavaScript'
});
h instanceof Guru;//<-- true
h instanceof Person;//<-- true

I've implemented it as follows (with comments):

Object.prototype.parasite = function(parasite){
    /* This is the function returned as the result
       of this call; it represents a wrapper for the
       function in parameter parasite. wrapper will simply
       call the parasite function, but supplying a Host function
       as the first argument. If wrapper is called with proto === undefined
       then the Host function will create an object with its prototype === this,
       otherwise an object with prototype === proto is created (this lets
       sub-parasites supply the proto parameter).
    */
    function wrapper(conf,proto) {
        var p = proto;//Exercise why is this necessary?
        Array.prototype.splice.call(arguments,0,0,function(){
           return object(p || wrapper.prototype);
        });
        return parasite.apply(this, arguments);
    }
    /* it is important that wrapper.prototype is set to this object, both so that
       o instanceof wrapper works, and so that objects created with
       object(p || wrapper.prototype) above will inherit properties of this */
    wrapper.prototype = this;
    return wrapper;
};
Function.prototype.parasite = function(parasite) {
    var host_cons = this;//the constructor function for the host of parasite

    /* Again, this function is the result of the computation. 
       When called it splices a Host function on the 0'th pos in the arguments array.
       The Host function will call the host_cons and (important!) supplies an 
       additional last argument (proto). If proto === undefined we are in the case
       where client code is calling wrapper, so we call the host_cons function
       supplying wrapper.prototype; if instead proto is provided we call host_cons
       with this object (this is the case where wrapper is called by a sub-parasite).
    */
    function wrapper(conf,proto) {
         var wrapper_this = this,
             p = proto;//exercise: why?
         Array.prototype.splice.call(arguments,0,0, function() {
              Array.prototype.splice.call(arguments,arguments.length,0, 
                                              p || wrapper.prototype);
              return host_cons.apply(wrapper_this,arguments); 
         });
         return parasite.apply(this, arguments);
    }
    /* our prototype is an object which inherits properties from this.prototype,
       e.g., Guru.prototype inherits from Person.prototype.
    */
    wrapper.prototype = object(this.prototype);
    return wrapper;
};