/meta_code

Metaprogramming utilities for CoffeeScript

Primary LanguageCoffeeScript

About

Meta Code is a set of metaprogramming utilities for CoffeeScript (inspired by Ruby).

Although you can achieve the same things by hard-coding everything, this package is good because function names convey meaning, and is good to have consensus among developers.

Features

Curently, the folowing tools are provided (nicely documented in the code)

  • module

    • extend - copies the module object's methods onto an object
    • include - copies the module object's methods onto an object's prototype
    • includeInter - inject a shallow copy of the module object into an object's prototype chain

  • forward

    • forward - forward a method call to an object property

  • autoload

    • autoload - load a property from a file

  • extract_options

    • extract_options - extract options from function arguments

Install

Install with npm:

# install locally in "./node_modules"
npm install meta_code

# or use -g to install globally
npm install meta_code -g

# or add it as a dependecy to your package.json and run
npm install

Usage

Metacode consists of a series of tools like "forward" or "module" that aid you to inject code in your objects. There are two interfaces that can be used:

  1. Use via metaCode helper
metaCode = require 'meta_code'

# a "module" we'll be including in our class
Power =
  sword: 'katana'
  fight: -> console.log @sword

class Samurai
  # Enable the module tool. Once enabled we can use this tool's methods 
  # like 'extend' and 'include' in our object, because the tool's methods 
  # get copied in our object
  metaCode @, 'module'
  @include Power
  1. Use directly
module = require 'meta_code/tools/module' # require the tool

# a "module" we'll be including in our class
Power =
  sword: 'katana'
  fight: -> console.log @sword

class Samurai
  module.include.call @, Power