Implementation of Javascript Classes and Inheritance

Question

I've created a simple Javascript library to be able to create "classes" and extend them defining instance and static methods and variables.

It consists in a simple function Class with two methods: create and extend.

var Class = function(){};

Class.extend = function(obj){

    var Extended = function(){};

    for(var key in this.prototype){
        Extended.prototype[key] = this.prototype[key];
    }

    for(var key in obj){
        Extended.prototype[key] = obj[key];
    };

    Extended.prototype.constructor = Extended; 

  for (var key in this) {
    Extended[key] = this[key];
  };

  return Extended;
};

Class.create = function(constructor){
    var created = new this();
    for(var key in constructor){
        created[key] = constructor[key];
    }
    return created;
};

Here there's an example of what the library is able to do:

var Model = Class.extend({
    fields: {},
    save: function(){
        return "saving a model at " + Model.url;
    },
    destroy: function(){
        return "destroying...";
    }
});

Model.url = "http://localhost";

Model.all = function(){
    return "all from " + Model.url;
};

Model.find = function(id){
    return "finding by " + id;
};

var User = Model.extend({
    fields: {
        username: "default username",
        password: "default password",
    },
    logout: function(){
        return "logged out " + this.fields.username;
    },
    destroy: function(){
        return this.logout() + " and account destroyed!";
    }
});

User.url = Model.url + "/users";

User.all = function(){
    return "overriding parent! all from " + User.url;
}

User.findByUsername = function(username){
    return "finding by username: " + username;
};

And I've created a js fiddle to test the example http://jsfiddle.net/R6jGe/

There's no way to call a parent instance method or variable.

how do you think the library could be improved?

Answer 1

I read your code several times, and I could only find few observations:

• jQuery has extend as well, the idea of it is sound, you could consider working with arguments and allow for n objects like jQuery does
• I am not sure that always overriding the constructor is a good idea in extend
• In the same vein, your approach does not allow for custom constructors that take parameters, whereas most OO classes have those ( new Customer( "Bob" ) to give a silly example)
• From a lint perspective:
  • You declare var key thrice in extend, you only need to declare it once, preferably on top
  • for loop blocks do not need semicolons
  • You should really look into .hasOwnProperty(), I am pretty sure your code can cause subtle bugs by smushing everything together