Classes in CoffeeScript

JavaScript doesn’t have a traditional class system. Instead, it has prototypes. Prototypes can be extremely versatile and powerful, but they’re confusing to novices. Hence, CoffeeScript has created a traditional class system. But… how? CoffeeScript’s catchphrase is “It’s Just JavaScript,” and JavaScript is distinctly missing a traditional class system. In this article, we go over the basics of creating a CoffeeScript class. In the next article, we dig into the (relatively advanced) generated JavaScript to figure out how the magic works.

The Parent Class

We’ll do this mostly by example, since it should be fairly easy for those who have read my introductory article on coffeescript to pick up on what’s happening.

class Bourgeoisie
  constructor: (@age, @privilegeConstant) ->

  worry: ->
    console.log("My stocks are down 1%!")

  profit: (hardWork, luck) ->
    return (@age - 23) * hardWork * (luck + @privilegeConstant)

elite = new Bourgeoisie(29, 397)
elite.worry() # "My stocks are down 1%!"
elite.profit(20, 50) #53640

We declare a class called Bourgeoisie. Functions on a class are declared as follows:

functionName: (arguments) ->
  code

The constructor function is named, clearly enough, constructor. It takes two arguments, age and priviligeConstant, and automatically assigns them as instance variables (@ is the CoffeeScript replacement for this, and when used in the argument of a constructor automatically assigns the variable to the instance). The constructor is called automatically when you create a new Bourgeoisie, like at the bottom of the code sample. We also have two other functions. The first, worry, takes no arguments. The second, profit, takes two arguments and returns a number.

The Inherited Class

Now we want to have a class that inherits from Bourgeoisie. We’ll call it Senator.

class Senator extends Bourgeoisie
  worry: ->
    console.log("The polls are down 1%!")

senator = new Senator(45, 992)
senator.worry() # "The polls are down 1%!")
senator.profit(6, 10) # 132264

This class extends Bourgeoisie, which means that it has all the characteristics of the parent class. The constructor and profit functions are exactly the same, the only difference is that you make a call to Senator instead of Bourgeoisie when constructing an instance.

The worry function, on the other hand, is different. The Senator worries about polls more than stocks, so his worry overwrites that of the parent class. This overwriting is seen again in a Student class, shown below.

class Student extends Bourgeoisie
  worry: ->
    console.log("Does my privilege inherently make me complicit in the repression of less fortunate classes?")

  profit: (hardWork, luck, tuition) ->
    super(hardWork, luck) - tuition

student = new Student(21, 89)
student.worry() #"Does my privilege inherently make me complicit in the repression of less fortunate classes?"
student.profit(10, 10, 10000) #-11980

The student’s worry overwrites the parent’s worry (in an even more dramatic fashion than the Senator’s), and their profit is also overwritten. However, the overwrite is now dependent on the parent class’s profit function. It takes that and subtracts the tuition. It’s a bad time to be a student! But what you should really learn from this is the super keyword, which calls the parent’s version of a function.

But, I Liked Prototypes

Good for you! CoffeeScript gives you convenience, but it still leaves you with power. Let’s use it! Here’s our abbreviated example from last time:

object = (o) ->
    F = ->
    F.prototype = o
    new F()

soldier = new Object()
soldier.a = jump
soldier.r = machineGun

sniper = object(soldier)
sniper.r = snipe

woundedSniper = object(sniper)
woundedSniper.a = -> console.log('aaaargh my leg!')

woundedSoldier = object(soldier)
woundedSoldier.a = woundedSniper.a

This should seem familiar, because 90% of the change was replacing a few function‘s with pointy arrows. The prototypical inheritance system is untouched because, remember, CoffeeScript is just JavaScript. The syntax is cleaner, and there is nothing more to learn if you want to implement prototypes in the Brendan Eich style we used last time. That’s not to say that CoffeeScript doesn’t apply some shortcuts. You can use :: instead of prototype. However, in the Brendan Eich style of prototypes, we only need to use that once, in the object(o) method. We can also access the extends and super keywords, but those are used only in constructors – which we have once again hidden away in the object(o) method.

Conclusion

The classical inheritance system in CoffeeScript provides convenience and comfort to the average developer. In addition, the cleaner syntax of CoffeeScript makes implementing a true prototypal system slightly easier. There’s simply no way to lose.