JavaScript OOP in NodeJS: how?

Question

I am used to the classical OOP as in Java.

What are the best practices to do OOP in JavaScript using NodeJS?

Each Class is a file with module.export

Answer 1

This is an example that works out of the box. If you want less "hacky", you should use inheritance library or such.

Well in a file animal.js you would write:

var method = Animal.prototype;

function Animal(age) {
    this._age = age;
}

method.getAge = function() {
    return this._age;
};

module.exports = Animal;

To use it in other file:

var Animal = require("./animal.js");

var john = new Animal(3);

If you want a "sub class" then inside mouse.js:

var _super = require("./animal.js").prototype,
    method = Mouse.prototype = Object.create( _super );

method.constructor = Mouse;

function Mouse() {
    _super.constructor.apply( this, arguments );
}
//Pointless override to show super calls
//note that for performance (e.g. inlining the below is impossible)
//you should do
//method.$getAge = _super.getAge;
//and then use this.$getAge() instead of super()
method.getAge = function() {
    return _super.getAge.call(this);
};

module.exports = Mouse;

Also you can consider "Method borrowing" instead of vertical inheritance. You don't need to inherit from a "class" to use its method on your class. For instance:

 var method = List.prototype;
 function List() {

 }

 method.add = Array.prototype.push;

 ...

 var a = new List();
 a.add(3);
 console.log(a[0]) //3;