bergmark/Cactus

Cactus started out as a library that was supposed to fix cross browser issues. It expanded into a collection of utilies useful... pretty much always.

It has now been refactored to use with the Joose (http://www.joose.it) meta object system and it runs on both node and in the browser.

Quick run-through of current functionality:

The Addon module contains addons to the built in data types.
Data contains data structures (Map, Set, Tree) and more high-level structures (ArrayController, KeyValueCoding).
Util contains stuff that doesn't belong anywhere else.
Web contains helpers for cross browser functionality, selectors, and wrappers that simplifies working with the DOM a lot.

Code Conventions (work in progress)

_ may be used for argument names in callbacks that are not used.
Camelcase abbreviations, Id and Url.
Set default values for parameters at the top of a functions body, or use TypeChecker to set them (also use at top.)
Events should be named in the correct grammatical form, most often in preterite to avoid confusion. onAdd is ambiguous, onBeforeAdd or onAdded (prefer over onAfterAdd for conciseness) is not.
Comments should not stretch over 80 columns wide.
Don't marginal adjust comments.
Lines should not be wider than ~120 characters.
Functions that may return null, or variables that may contain null as well as the intended type should be suffixed with maybe. var userMaybe = getUserMaybe();.
Boolean names should have a predicate prefix. hasUser and isAdmin.
Use hungarian notation instead of constraining a value's type implicitly. Use plainPassword and hashedPassword over password.

Don't use these constructs:

with. Confusing. Instead do var o = longName; o.x = 1;.
new Boolean/new String/new Number, messes up typeof and comparisons.
typeof x === "object", since typeof null => "object", use instanceof instead.
[new] Array(). new Array(1) vs new Array(1,2) is confusing. [1], [1,2] is not. And [] is more concise.
[new] Object(). {} is more concise.

Types in documentation

primitive types (number, boolean, string) => as is
an instance of class C => C
an implementer of a role R => R
collection => numbered by indices 0..length-1, has length property
hash => Object with properties that may contain different values
map => Object where each property has the same type
entity => any value that can be compared with ===
Object => any non-primitive value
null/undefined is never allowed for any type unless explicitly stated in documentation.
Number/Boolean/String => don't use.
Exceptions
Declare exceptions with @throws in documentation.
Errors should not have a @throws declaration.
Prefer to not use exceptions.

Iteration:

bergmark / Cactus