m8

m8 (mate) is a small utility library – for modern JavaScript engines – you might find useful or just plain annoying.
m8 provides a set of basic functionality I tend to write over and over in each of my projects, so I just abstracted it out into its own library!

WARNING!!!

While m8 has been tested, the testing framework I've written and used is very much a work in progress.
Also I'm currently between virtual machine software and operating system licenses, so I have only tested on mac osx lion and snow leopard: nodejs – >= v0.613 – as well as current – and beta/ nightly – versions of Chrome, Safari/ Webkit and FireFox.

A note on the archticture

The bulk of the m8 API, lives under the m8 namespace. There are a few extensions to JavaScript Natives.
The reason being: some methods/ properties make more sense being assigned to a specific Type. These are extended correctly, using Object.defineProperty and are non-enumerable.
They will not break any standard functionality – e.g. for ... in loops – and they will not overwrite any existing functionality with the same name – though it is possible if you want to.

Extending into the future

Common JS Modules 1.1.1 notes on extending native prototypes from a module contains a proposal for explicit native use in modules.
In essence: future commonjs modules could potentially be sandboxed from the rest of the environment they're running in. So the behaviour of extending native Types could become unpredictable.
m8 attempts to future proof itself by implementing functionality similar to that defined in the example of how to extend prototypes using a commonjs module included in the proposal.

m8.x( Type1:Mixed, Type2:Mixed, ..., TypeN:Mixed ):m8 and m8.x.cache( Type:String, extensisons:Function ):m8

These two methods work in tandem to allow you to store any extensions for a particular Type – Native or otherwise, using m8.x.cache – and then extend Types as and when needed – using m8.x.

Example:

Suppose we have a module called foo with the following code:

// require m8
   var m8 = require( 'm8' );

// extend foo module's natives if sandboxed.
// IMPORTANT: if the module IS NOT sandboxed, the natives in foo will have already been extended when m8 was required
//            m8 keeps track of this and will only attempt to apply any newly added extensions.
   m8.x( Object, Array, Boolean, Function );

// caching new extensions for Array. won't actually extend anything at this point.
   m8.x.cache( 'Array', function( Type ) { // <= notice 'Array' is a String, NOT the actual Array Function
      m8.def( Type, m8.describe( function() {
         /** some static method **/
      }, 'w' ) );

      m8.defs( Type.prototype, {
         doSomething     : function() { /** do something **/ },
         doSomethingElse : function() { /** do something else **/ }
      }, 'w' );
   } );

// only extends foo module's Array! since it is the only Type to have more extensions added.
   m8.x( Object, Array, Boolean, Function ); // no danger and no pointless iterations either.

   module.exports = {
      extend : function() {
         m8.x.apply( m8, arguments );
      }
   };

We can then require foo from another module and pass it any Types we want to extend:

// extend this module's natives if sandboxed.
   require( 'foo' ).extend( Object, Array, Boolean, Function );

// do all the stuff "JavaScript: The Good Parts" tells you not to do here, coz you're an animal!

API

m8( item:Mixed ):Mixed

m8 itself is a Function which returns the the first parameter passed to it.

Example

m8( true );            // returns => true

m8( 'foo' );           // returns => "foo"

m8( { foo : 'bar' } ); // returns => { "foo" : "bar" }

m8.bless( namespace:String, context:Object ):Object

Creates an Object representation of the passed namespace String and returns it.
If a context Object is given, the Object tree created will be added to the context Object, otherwise it will be added to the global namespace.
NOTE: If any existing Objects with the same name already exist, they will NOT be replaced and any child Objects will be appended to them.

Example:

// m8.ENV == 'browser'
   m8.bless( 'foo.bar' );       // creates => global.foo.bar

// you can now do:
   foo.bar.Something = function() {};

   m8.bless( 'foo.bar', m8 );   // creates => m8.foo.bar

   var bar = m8.bless( 'foo.bar' );

   bar === foo.bar              // returns => true

IMPORTANT: When using m8.bless within a commonjs module: if you want your namespace Object to be assigned to the correct module.exports, then you should always pass the module instance as the context (ctx) of your namespace.

Example:

// m8.ENV == 'commonjs'

// inside my_commonjs_module.js
   m8.bless( 'foo.bar', module );            // creates => module.exports.foo.bar

// you can now do:
   module.exports.foo.bar.Something = function() {};

// if you want to include "exports" in your namespace, you can do so by placing a carat (^) at the start of the String
   m8.bless( '^exports.foo.bar', module ); // creates => module.exports.foo.bar

// otherwise, you will end up creating an extra exports Object, e.g:
   m8.bless( 'exports.foo.bar', module ); // creates => module.exports.exports.foo.bar

// alternatively, you can also do:
   m8.bless( 'foo.bar', module.exports ); // creates => module.exports.foo.bar

m8.coerce( item:Mixed ):Mixed

Attempts to coerce primitive values "trapped" in Strings, into their real types.

Example:

m8.coerce( 'false' );       // returns false

m8.coerce( 'null' );        // returns null

m8.coerce( 'true' );        // returns true

m8.coerce( 'undefined' );   // returns undefined

m8.coerce( 'NaN' );         // returns NaN

m8.coerce( '0001' );        // returns 1

m8.coerce( '0012' );        // returns 12

m8.coerce( '0123' );        // returns 123

m8.coerce( '123.4' );       // returns 123.4

m8.coerce( '123.45' );      // returns 123.45

m8.coerce( '123.456' );     // returns 123.456

m8.coerce( '123.456.789' ); // returns "123.456.789"

m8.copy( destination:Object, source:Object, nooverwrite:Boolean ):Object

Copies the properties – accessible via Object.keys – from the source Object to the destination Object and returns the destination Object.

Example:

var foo = { one : 1, two : 2, three : 3 },
    bar = m8.copy( {}, foo );

bar          // returns => { "one" : 1, "two" : 2, "three" : 3 }

foo === bar  // returns => false

m8.copy( foo, { three : 3.3, four : 4 }, true ); // returns => { "one" : 1, "two" : 2, "three" : 3, "four" : 4 }

m8.def( item:Mixed, name:String, descriptor:Object, overwrite:Boolean, debug:Boolean ):m8

Shortened version of Object.defineProperty with some extra options.

<tr><td>item</td><td>The item to define a property on.</td></tr>
<tr><td>name</td><td>The name of the property you are defining.</td></tr>
<tr><td>descriptor</td><td>The property descriptor for the new/ modified property.</td></tr>
<tr><td>overwrite</td><td>Whether or not to attempt overwriting the new property if it exists.</td></tr>
<tr><td>debug</td><td>Whether or not to throw an error if the property already exists.</td></tr>

The last two – optional – parameters are handy for extending JavaScript Natives without risking collisions with native/ other implementations.

Example:

m8.def( Object, 'greet', m8.describe( function( name ) { return 'Hello ' + name + '!'; }, 'w' ) );

Object.greet( 'world' ); // returns => "Hello world!"

delete Object.greet;     // returns => false; Object.greet is not configurable

m8.defs( item:Mixed, descriptors:Object, mode:String|Object, overwrite:Boolean, debug:Boolean ):m8

Similar to m8.def except m8.defs allows you to define multiple properties at once.
NOTE: Calls m8.def internally.

<tr><td>item</td><td>The item to define the properties on.</td></tr>
<tr><td>descriptors</td><td>An Object of properties apply to the item. Each of the <code>descriptors</code> key/ value pairs become the property name and value on the item. This can be a property descriptor, partial descriptor or just the value you want to assign.</td></tr>
<tr><td>mode</td><td>The permissions to apply to each property descriptor in the <code>descriptors</code> Object. See <code>m8.describe</code> directly below and <code>m8.modes</code> to find out more about this.</td></tr>
<tr><td>overwrite</td><td>Whether or not to attempt overwriting the new property if it exists.</td></tr>
<tr><td>debug</td><td>Whether or not to throw an error if the property already exists.</td></tr>

The last two – optional – parameters are handy for extending JavaScript Natives without risking collisions with native/ other implementations.

Example:

m8.defs( Object, {
   accessor : { get : function() { return this.__accessor; }, set : function( a ) { this.__accessor = a; } },
   global   : { value : window },
   greeting : function( name ) { return 'Hello ' + name + '!'; }
}, 'w' ) );
/**
IMPORTANT TO NOTE: Accessors do not alllow the "writable" attribute to even be present in their descriptor Object.
                   see: https://plus.google.com/117400647045355298632/posts/YTX1wMry8M2
                   m8.def handles this internally, so if a "get" or "set" accessor Function is in the descriptor, the
                   "writable" attribute will be removed from the descriptor, if it exists.
**/

Object.accessor = 'foo'; // returns => 'foo'
Object.accessor;         // returns => 'foo'

Object.global === window // returns => true
Object.greet( 'world' ); // returns => "Hello world!"

delete Object.greet;     // returns => false; Object.greet is not configurable

m8.describe( value:Mixed, mode:Object|String ):Object

When using Object.defineProperty en masse, your property descriptors can really start to bulk out your codebase.
Using m8.describe in combination with m8.modes can significantly reduce the amount of superfluous code you need to write. Especially when working with verbose property names like: configurable, enumerable & writeable.
When value is an Object m8.describe assumes you are passing it a property descriptor you want to assign modes to.

Example:

m8.describe( {
   get : function() { ... },
   set : function() { ... }
}, 'cw' );

/* returns => {
    configurable : true,
    enumerable   : false,
    get          : function() { ... },
    set          : function() { ... },
    writable     : true // NOTE: this property is illegal in an accessor descriptor. however, m8.def will handle this internally saving you tears
} */

When value is anything but an Object, it is assigned to the value property of the property descriptor.

Example:

m8.describe( function() { ... }, m8.modes.c );

/* returns => {
    configurable : true,
    enumerable   : false,
    value        : function() { ... },
    writeable    : false
} */

See m8.modes below for a list of available property descriptors.

m8.empty( value:Mixed ):Boolean

Returns true if the passed value does not exist (see exist below), is an empty Array, Object, String or any other enumerable type.

Example:

m8.empty( undefined );    // returns => true

m8.empty( null );         // returns => true

m8.empty( '' );           // returns => true

m8.empty( [] );           // returns => true

m8.empty( {} );           // returns => true

m8.empty( ' ' );          // returns => false

m8.empty( [1] );          // returns => false

m8.empty( { 0 : null } ); // returns => false

m8.exists( value:Mixed ):Boolean

Returns false if the passed value is undefined , NaN or null, returns true otherwise.

Example:

m8.exists( undefined ); // returns => false

m8.exists( NaN );       // returns => false

m8.exists( null );      // returns => false

m8.exists( 0 );         // returns => true

m8.exists( false );     // returns => true

m8.exists( {} );        // returns => true

m8.got( object:Object, key:String ):Boolean

Returns true if object contains key based on the in operator.
Any type passed to m8.got is cast as an Object before checking it contains a specific key. So using m8.got instead of simply using the in operator can help reduce the chance of error in your code.

var foo = { one : 1, two : 2, three : 3 };

m8.got( foo, 'one' );      // returns => true

m8.got( foo, 'four' );     // returns => false

m8.got( foo, '__type__' ); // returns => true

m8.has( object:Object, key:String ):Boolean

Shortened version of Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call.

Example:

var foo = { one : 1, two : 2, three : 3 };

m8.has( foo, 'one' );      // returns => true

m8.has( foo, 'four' );     // returns => false

m8.has( foo, '__type__' ); // returns => false

m8.id( item:Mixed, prefix:String ):String

Returns the id property of the passed item – item can be an Object, HTMLElement, "JavaScript Class" instance, etc...
If an id does not exist on the passed item, the item is assigned an auto-generated id and the value is returned.
If a prefix is supplied then it is used as the prefix for the id – if not anon__ is used as the prefix.
An internal counter that is automatically incremented is appended to the end of the prefix.

Example:

var foo = { id   : 'foo' },
    bar = { name : 'bar' },
    yum = { nam  : 'yum' };

m8.id( foo );         // returns => "foo"

m8.id( bar );         // returns => "anon__1000"

m8.id( yum, 'yum-' ); // returns => "yum-1001"

m8.len( item:Mixed ):Number

Tries the returns the length property of the passed item.

Example:

m8.len( { one : 1, two : 2, three : 3 } ); // returns => 3

m8.len( [1, 2, 3] );                       // returns => 3

m8.len( 'foobar' );                        // returns => 6

m8.len( { one : 1, two : 2, three : 3 } ) === Object.keys( { one : 1, two : 2, three : 3 } ).length
// returns => true

m8.nativeType( item:Mixed ):String

Returns the native type of the passed item. For normalised types use m8.type.
Note: All types are always in lowercase.

Example:

m8.nativeType( null );                                   // returns => "null"

m8.nativeType( undefined );                              // returns => "undefined"

m8.nativeType( [] );                                     // returns => "array"

m8.nativeType( true );                                   // returns => "boolean"

m8.nativeType( new Date() );                             // returns => "date"

m8.nativeType( function() {} );                          // returns => "function"

m8.nativeType( 0 );                                      // returns => "number"

m8.nativeType( {} );                                     // returns => "object"

m8.nativeType( Object.create( null ) );                  // returns => "object"

m8.nativeType( /.*/ );                                   // returns => "regexp"

m8.nativeType( '' );                                     // returns => "string"

m8.nativeType( document.createElement( 'div' ) );        // returns => "htmldivelement"

m8.nativeType( document.querySelectorAll( 'div' ) );     // returns => "htmlcollection" | "nodelist"

m8.nativeType( document.getElementsByTagName( 'div' ) ); // returns => "htmlcollection" | "nodelist"

m8.nativeType( global );                                 // returns => "global"

m8.nativeType( window );                                 // returns => "global" | "window"

m8.noop():void

An empty Function that returns nothing.

m8.obj( props:Obejct ):Object

Creates an empty Object using Object.create( null ), the Object has no constructor and executing Object.getPrototypeOf on the empty Object instance will return null rather than Object.prototype.
Optionally pass an Object whose properties you want copied to the empty Object instance.

m8.tostr( item:Mixed ):String

Shortened version of Object.prototype.toString.call.

m8.type( item:Mixed ):String

Returns the normalised type of the passed item.
Note: All types are always in lowercase.

Example:

m8.type( null );                                   // returns => false

m8.type( undefined );                              // returns => false

m8.type( [] );                                     // returns => "array"

m8.type( true );                                   // returns => "boolean"

m8.type( new Date() );                             // returns => "date"

m8.type( function() {} );                          // returns => "function"

m8.type( 0 );                                      // returns => "number"

m8.type( NaN );                                    // returns => "nan"

m8.type( {} );                                     // returns => "object"

m8.type( Object.create( null ) );                  // returns => "nullobject"

m8.type( /.*/ );                                   // returns => "regexp"

m8.type( '' );                                     // returns => "string"

m8.type( document.createElement( 'div' ) );        // returns => "htmlelement"

m8.type( document.querySelectorAll( 'div' ) );     // returns => "htmlcollection"

m8.type( document.getElementsByTagName( 'div' ) ); // returns => "htmlcollection"

m8.type( global );                                 // returns => "global"

m8.type( window );                                 // returns => "global"

static properties

m8.ENV:String

Internally m8 tries to figure out what environment it is currrently being run in.
m8.ENV is a String representation of what environment m8 is assuming it is running in.

Environments:

<thead><tr><th>env</th><th>description</th></tr></thead>
<tbody>
	<tr><td><strong>browser</strong></td><td>m8 is being used within a web browser.</td></tr>
	<tr><td><strong>commonjs</strong></td><td>m8 is being used within a commonjs style architecture (e.g. nodejs).</td></tr>
	<tr><td><strong>other</strong></td><td>m8 has no idea where the fudge it is.</td></tr>
<tbody>

m8.global:Global

A reference to the global Object, this will be window in a web browser and global in nodejs.
m8 uses the "use strict"; directive, so having a reference to the global Object is handy.

m8.modes:Object

m8.modes is an Object containing all the variations on different permissions a property may have when assigned using Object.defineProperty.
See m8.describe above for more information on how to use m8.modes to create property descriptors compatible with Object.defineProperty.

Available modes are:

<thead><tr><th>mode</th><th>configurable</th><th>enumerable</th><th>writeable</th></tr></thead>
<tbody>
	<tr><td><strong>r</strong></td><td>false</td><td>false</td><td>false</td></tr>
	<tr><td><strong>ce</strong></td><td>true</td><td>true</td><td>false</td></tr>
	<tr><td><strong>cw</strong></td><td>true</td><td>false</td><td>true</td></tr>
	<tr><td><strong>ew</strong></td><td>false</td><td>true</td><td>true</td></tr>
	<tr><td><strong>cew</strong></td><td>true</td><td>true</td><td>true</td></tr>
<tbody>

NOTE: You can supply the characters for a specific mode in any order.

Extensions to JavaScript Natives

Array.coerce( value:Mixed, indexfrom:Number, indexto:Number ):Array

Attempts to coerce the passed value into and Array.
If the value cannot be coerced, an Array is returned with the value as the first and only item in the Array.
The most common Types which can be coerced into Arrays are: HtmlCollection/ NodeList and Function Arguments.
If a index_from is a valid Number, then Array.coerce will attempt to return a slice of the returned Array starting from the Number provided.
If a index_to is a valid Number, then Array.coerce will attempt to return a slice of the returned Array starting from the Number provided by index_from and ending at index_to provided.

Example:

<body>
   <div id="one"></div>
   <div id="two"></div>
   <div id="three"></div>
</body>

Array.coerce( document.body.children );                               // returns => [div#one, div#two, div#three]

Array.coerce( document.body.querySelectorAll( '*' ) );                // returns => [div#one, div#two, div#three]

Array.coerce( function( a, b, c ) { return arguments; }( 1, 2, 3 ) ); // returns => [1, 2, 3]

Array.coerce( { one : 1, two : 2, three : 3 } );                      // returns => [{ one : 1, two : 2, three : 3 }]

Array.coerce( [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7], 3 );                             // returns => [4, 5, 6, 7]

Array.coerce( [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7], 3, 0 );                          // returns => [4, 5, 6, 7]

Array.coerce( [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7], 1, 3 );                          // returns => [2, 3]

Array.coerce( [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7], 3, 2 );                          // returns => [4, 5]

Array.coerce( [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7], 3, -1 );                         // returns => [4, 5, 6]

Array.prototype.find( iterator:Function, context:Object ):Mixed

Returns the first item in the Array that returns a "truthy" value when executing the passed iterator function over the Array, or null if none is found.

Example:

[1, 2, 3, 4].find( function( value ) { return value > 2; } );                     // returns => 3

[1, 2, 3, 4].find( function( value, index ) { return value > 2 && index > 2; } ); // returns => 4

[1, 2, 3, 4].find( function( value ) { return value > 4; } );                     // returns => null

REMEMBER: The ACTUAL item in the Array is returned, NOT the iterator's return value.

Boolean.coerce( value:Mixed ):Boolean

Handy for working with Booleans trapped in Strings.
Returns a normalised Boolean value for a String, Number, null or undefined.
Everything will return true, except for the following which all return false:

Boolean.coerce( 'false' );     Boolean.coerce(  false  );

Boolean.coerce( '0' );         Boolean.coerce(  0  );

Boolean.coerce( 'NaN' );       Boolean.coerce(  NaN  );

Boolean.coerce( 'null' );      Boolean.coerce(  null  );

Boolean.coerce( 'undefined' ); Boolean.coerce(  undefined );

Boolean.coerce();              Boolean.coerce( '' );

GET: Function.prototype.\_\name\_\:String

GET: Function.prototype.\_\name\_\:String

Tries to return the name of a Function instance. If a function is mimicking another function, then that function's name is returned.
If no name can be resolved, then anonymous is returned.

Function.prototype.mimic( fn:Function, name:String ):Function

Handy for working with wrapper methods, allows a function to mimics another, by over-writing its toString and valueOf methods.
The displayName property used by web inspector to allow assigning names to anonymous functions is also set.
If a name param is passed, then it is used as the displayName, otherwise the passes function's name is used.

Example:

function foo( a, b, c ) { ... }

foo.__name__;                                          // returns => "foo"

( function( a, b, c ) { ... } ).__name__;              // returns => "anonymous"

function bar( a, b, c ) { ... }.mimic( foo ).__name__; // returns => "foo"

Object.reduce( object:Object, iterator:Function, value:Mixed ):Mixed

This is similar to Array.reduce except that it is used on Objects instead of Arrays.
The iterator Function will receive 5 arguments:

<tr><td>previous_value</td><td>When the <code>iterator</code> Function is first called, this will be the initially supplied <code>value</code>, after which it will be previous value returned by the <code>iterator</code> Function.</td></tr>
<tr><td>value</td><td>The value of the item currently being iterated over.</td></tr>
<tr><td>key</td><td>The key of the item currently being iterated over.</td></tr>
<tr><td>object</td><td>The Object being iterated over.</td></tr>
<tr><td>index</td><td>The zero based index of the item currently being iterated over.</td></tr>

Example:

// the sum of all values of the passed object
   Object.reduce( { one : 1, two : 2, three : 3 }, function( previous_value, value, key, index, object ) {
        console.log( 'previous_value : ', previous_value, ', value : ', value, ', key : ', key, ', index : ', index );
		return previous_value += value;
   }, 0 );
// logs    => previous_value : 0, value : 1, key : one,   index : 0
// logs    => previous_value : 1, value : 2, key : two,   index : 1
// logs    => previous_value : 3, value : 3, key : three, index : 2
// returns => 6

NOTE: Object.reduce is the only Object iterator included in m8 because it is the most powerful. Apart from every & some you can use reduce to implement the same functionality available in all other ES5 Array iterators.
This will help keep the file size down.

Object.value( object:Object, path:String ):Mixed

Returns the property value at the specified path in an Object.

Example:

var data = { one : { two : { three : true, four : [1, 2, 3, 4] } } };

Object.value( data, 'one' );            // returns => { two : { three : true, four : [1, 2, 3, 4] } }

Object.value( data, 'one.two' );        // returns => { three : true, four : [1, 2, 3, 4] }

Object.value( data, 'one.two.three' );  // returns => { three : true }

Object.value( data, 'one.two.four' );   // returns => [1, 2, 3, 4]

Object.value( data, 'one.two.four.2' ); // returns => 3

Object.values( object:Object ):Array

Returns the values of the passed Object based on it's enumerable keys.

Example:

Object.values( { one : 1, two : 2, three : 3 } ); // returns => [1,2,3]

GET: Object.prototype.\_\type\_\:String

Attempts to resolve a normalised type for any type that inherits from JavaScript's Object.prototype. See m8.type for more information.
NOTE: All types are always in lowercase

File sizes

<tbody>
	<tr><td style="width : 80px ;">m8.js</td><td style="width : 48px ;">3kb</td><td>deflate</td>
	<tr><td>m8.min.js</td><td>2.3kb</td><td>uglified + deflate</td>
</tbody>

License

(The MIT License)
Copyright © 2012 christos "constantology" constandinou http://muigui.com
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the 'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.